Suddenly Alone
by The Miser
Summary: Amy tries to get on with life despite being constantly haunted by Sonic's last words. How will she cope now that her hero has abandoned her? Who will save her now? What is it she needs saving from?
1. Sweet Dreams are made of Sweet Things

Beautiful emerald eyes sat upon the very personification heroism. His gloved hands held hers gently so they may never be apart again. A chocolate milkshake sat between them with two straws sticking from the delicious treat and into their mouths. Her lips held the plastic of the straw in place as she got further lost into his eyes. His lips pursed slightly as he struggled to force the confectionary treat through his straw. He was perfect, always there when she needed him. Even now, as he fought to suck the delectable chocolate drink up the straw, she could find no fault. Not one discrepancy that would blemish his flawless character. Stifled giggles turned in her stomach as she watched his straw contort with his efforts clearly in vein.

"Oh Sonic, could this day be anymore perfect?" She spoke through the side of her mouth so as not to lose the almost dangling straw.

A moment of silence then proceeded as the blue hedgehog finally admitted defeat against his chocolate foe. His eyes narrowed with tense thought, as though he had remembered something of dire importance. The fur of his brow furrowed as his eyes drilled holes into the table between the two hedgehogs.

Immediately aware of the sudden change in tone, the girl tightened her grip and allowed the pinstriped straw to fall away from her lips. "Something wrong Sonic?" The blue blur was never one to be at a loss for words and his current state of what could easily be taken as a gesture of regret was unbecoming of a hedgehog that possessed Sonic's personality.

"Amy…I'm sorry…for everything…I'm so sorry…" The apology came quietly, almost inaudible. Had she not been watching his face she would've missed it.

Befuddled, Amy couldn't help but question her hero's sudden apology. "Sorry, what for?"

Sonic's eyes lost their vibrant shine as he repeated himself. "Amy…I'm sorry…for everything…I'm so sorry…" The tone that lay underneath Sonic's words carried no emotion. His typically relaxed face was strewn with tense contortions as the blue hedgehog seemed to be trying to look at Amy without seeing her.

Confusion fell over Amy as she tried to make sense of Sonic's words. What exactly could he be sorry for? The date had been perfect so far. They had shared fries and a milkshake while recounting humorous stories of their pasts. Everything had gone just the way Amy had always hoped it would: a warm day, good food, a date with Sonic, and no Eggman to ruin the day. Even the clouds were perfectly in place in what seems to be a beautiful tapestry of sky.

The warm feeling of Sonic's gloved hands clasped in Amy's suddenly gave way to numbness. Startled from her thoughts by the lack of warmth, the pink hedgehog's eyes focused on Sonic as the numbness spread through her body. Fear gripped the girl as she found herself enveloped in a world of darkness. No Sonic, no milkshake, no clouds, no anything; there was nothing but a gaping void.

With a startled squeal Amy jutted forward clenching her fists tightly as she found herself out of breath for whatever reason. Mentally begging for an explanation, she caught the sight of something in her lap. Through the darkness Amy could see what seemed to vaguely resemble a cartoonish flower. Slowly the pink hedgehog realized that she was looking at her own bed sheets. Once Amy broke her gaze away from her sheets she comforted herself with the knowledge that she was sitting safely in her bed. The small amount of comfort the hedgehog had felt left as she sighed in disappointment.

"It was just a dream…just another dream…" Despondent, Amy laid her head back onto her feathery pillow and pulled her flowery covers up to her nose. "Why does it have to be a dream every time?" Hoping to return to her dream date with the blue blur -without the scary part at the end- Amy allowed herself to give way to sleep.


	2. Spring Cleaning in the Fall

An aching pain ran through Amy's elbows as she continued to scrub her kitchen floor. Having the morning off from work, the pink hedgehog had decided that the time would be best spent tidying up her apartment up a bit. Thanks to Amy's fulltime commitment to her job she had very little time for anything else anymore. Her busy schedule even kept her from regularly cleaning her apartment which led to it becoming less than presentable.

A scoff rose above the sound of the bristles of the brush scraping across the linoleum of the soon to be clean kitchen floor. Presentable, why should she care about that anymore? The only reason Amy toiled over making her place pretty was old urges. She had always been a bit of a neat freak. There was no logical explanation for making her apartment nice looking. Amy never had any guests anymore. Cream was currently at a camp all summer and Vanilla happened to be chaperoning this particular camp. Tails was far too busy with his own enterprises and inventions to drop by for a planned visit. Though she would gladly invite Rouge over, the last email she had received from her stated that Rouge would be busy for the upcoming months with numerous jobs and missions with that G.U.N. organization. As for Big, Amy would never invite the lovable goof into a home she had just painstakingly cleaned. Those big feet of his managed to track in pounds of dirt and mud while his huge body inadvertently knocked over everything in his path. Only Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic remained.

The sudden thought of Sonic forced Amy to shudder. His name brought back the constant dream she had been having for the last five months. At first the dream seemed normal to the pink hedgehog. She had always dreamt of Sonic. Once the dream reached its third month of reoccurrence Amy began to get scared. She'd never had such a persistence dream before. In an attempt to discover the roots of the dream, Amy had asked Tails what his thoughts were. With his help they determined that the dream was caused by the odd set of circumstances surrounding the last time Sonic and Amy had met.

It was just like any other day in every way; Amy spent the morning having tea with Rouge and Vanilla while she filled her noon to afternoon time with Sonic. Amy had always felt strange about this particular day. Only five months ago but almost everything had changed since that day. At the time Sonic was easy to find and Amy made it her objective to see him almost every day. Now nobody knew where her hero had gone, not even Tails. The only clues were periodic texts Sonic would send the two tailed fox every other month. According to these texts Sonic was in a different town every month. Unfortunately, Amy knew why he was avoiding everybody. That day had ended peculiarly; for whatever reason Sonic apologized to her before running off. The apology was seared into Amy's memory, _"Amy…I'm sorry…for everything…I'm so sorry…"_ It had come out of nowhere. Amy had actually been minding her own business when the blue hedgehog approached her, the first time he had ever taken the initiative.

Tails had said that perhaps the apology was so traumatically weird for Amy that it would haunt her forever. Though she immediately rejected the idea Amy had to give the boy his credit; those are awkward last words to have with someone.

With Sonic avoiding everybody, Amy was only left with two options for guests: Shadow and Knuckles. Shadow was terrifying for Amy. Yes, they had bonded in a way on the ARK. That didn't mean the black hedgehog still didn't scare her to near death. If Shadow were to drop by for a visit, a highly unlikely outcome due to Shadow's self-imposed isolation, Amy would be too busy trying not to be killed by him to have actual conversations

Knuckles was a definite no. Nothing was more important to that echidna that his precious Master Emerald. Personally, Amy wouldn't mind having the stubborn echidna as a guest. Whenever they talked, Amy found that Knuckles surprisingly good conversation. His strong opinion about matters coupled with his short temper made some very interesting moments. The funniest was when Knuckles and Cream joined Amy for company, something that hadn't happened in almost a year. Though you'd never guess it, Cream looked up to Knuckles. She saw him as the strongest person she knew. He stood alone on his island protecting a gem that if stolen could destroy the world. Amy had to agree with her best friend. It must've been hard for him to be alone up there all the time. So Cream just idolized the red echidna and it was clear to Amy that Knuckles had no clue why this little rabbit cared about him so much.

Amy's only other option for company was the people from her job at a local diner. She hadn't really connected with her co-workers as she was usually too busy with customers.

With a huff, Amy plopped the brush into a bucket filled with soapy water. It had taken almost two hours and Amy was sure her arms would forever be sore, but she had finally finished up the kitchen floor. "That takes care of the kitchen…" Amy's eyes turned to the small living room that lead to her bedroom; both just as dirty as the kitchen had been. Sighing, the pink hedgehog walked into the living room and got to work on a coffee table that had a layer of dust on it that was thick enough to hide buried treasure.

"Cream, I swear to God that I'll kill you if you don't come back soon." For the first time in her life Amy was serious about hurting her innocent best friend. She wanted this cleaning to mean something. Plus, summer had just ended and Amy had assured herself that the rabbit would be back by now but, as with most things involving high hopes, Amy was wrong.


	3. Check Please

"You gotta to love Tuesdays…"

"Of course I do, when else can I work on my beauty sleep?"

Faux girlish laughter left Amy as she continued to wipe a table down with a wash rag, wincing every time her elbows bent due to her morning cleaning session back home. The table washing wasn't really that bad in Amy's opinion. All you had to do was drag a wash cloth across the top of a table three times and you were done. Her only qualm with the action was that on days where the traffic is barely existent in the diner the waitresses were supposed to clean every table. That's waitresses as in all the waitresses. As usual it was only Amy doing the cleaning.

Sulking tin a booth to her left was the other waitress on duty, a slim purple rabbit with about ten piercings on her body that Amy knew about. At first Amy wanted nothing to do with her obnoxious co-worker. Even her name freaked Amy out to an extent; Nimby. What parent names their child Nimby? However, writing someone off because of their name wasn't something Amy wanted to develop as a habit. Hoping for the best, Amy tried her best with the strange girl. Despite her effort, the two shared no interests. Nimby liked piercings, some form of 'music' –Amy thought the noises belonged in a horror movie rather than an album– called screamo, and this girl's casual attire consisted of colors as vibrant as black and purple. The worst part was that Nimby was horrible with customers and almost did not work at all. According to her she had petitioned the boss pretty hard so that she could work there. Amy didn't even want to know exactly what Nimby meant by 'petitioned' and thus she pretty much ignored it.

Once Amy ran the rag across the table one more time she stood up, silently groaning over the pain in her elbows. That was the last table, which meant that now she got to wait for customers to show up. The pink hedgehog hated this part. All they did was just sit and wait for some hungry businessman to come strolling through the door intent on sexually harassing a waitress. However, it was money and Amy knew that she would be in serious trouble without a job.

Feeling the urge to go home, Amy turned her attention to the clock up on the wall. It was only four in the afternoon. That meant that Amy had another three hours before she could finally go home. Luckily she hadn't taken her lunch break yet and thus still had a thirty minute window with which she could be away from the diner.

The ring of the bell above the door suddenly rang indicating the arrival of a customer. Sighing, Amy slowly stood knowing that it just had to be one of those businessmen she hated so much.

"Oh good, you're up. You can get this one Amy." Nimby's sleepy voice sounded off from her little hiding spot in the booth.

Amy really did try to get along with the lazy rabbit; she had extended the olive branch and put forth her most cordial of personalities. Nimby had simply trampled over the pink hedgehog's attempts with an apathetic yawn accompanying each step.

Calling back to her vast reservoir of peppiness, Amy slapped a smile on before turning to face the waiting customer. To her vast surprise Amy actually recognized the customer. "Tails, is that you?" There standing at the door was none other than the two tailed wonder Miles Prower. Amy was absolutely sure that it was Tails. This fox was taller than she remembered him being, his hair was cut in such a manner that he appeared nearly professional, and this fox was wearing a strange armband that held a little brown pouch but there was no other fox in the entire world with two tails; that Amy was sure of.

Obviously struck from his thoughts, Tails blinked for a moment as he examined the source of the question. It looked almost as if he couldn't recognize Amy, but she could see the switch click in his head as his memory kicked in. "Amy? What're you doing here?"

"Working obviously," he was the same as Amy had always remembered him, smarter than the greatest minds in the world, but still a little poor at deductive reasoning regarding anything that wasn't a robot.

Amy quickly took the fox up in a hug that he immediately returned. Both giggled as she finally collected herself and grabbed a menu from the waitress' station. "Now then, if you follow me sir I'll lead you to your table."

"Of course, lead the way miss." Amy was forced to stifle a giggle as she turned to lead her old friend to one of the better booths. From the corner of her eye Amy could see Nimby casting a curious eye over her booth. The gaze the rabbit directed towards her freaked Amy out a bit, it was like she was silently accusing her of having a boyfriend.

Tails sat quickly and turned a happy gaze up to Amy. The pure innocence in those eyes took Amy back to better times. Back when GUN hadn't arrested Eggman, back when Sonic was still around, and back when Amy could just drop everything to chase after her blue hero.

"What would you like to drink?" Acting almost on instinct, Amy handed the only customer of the day his menu. Though the job could get to be a bit much with the disrespectful clientele and the lazy co-workers, but it was one Amy enjoyed. She had always been a people person and her theatric personality clicked well with the many people that stumbled in on busy nights.

Taking the menu in his hands, Tails turned to the beverage section to see if they had his favorite drink. However, Amy beat him to it, "Let me guess; a sweet tea with no lemon, right?" Surprised, Tails turned his big blue eyes up to her. Amy giggled as Tails nodded. What could she say; he was a creature of habit. "I'll be right back sir."

Though she felt like skipping, Amy forced herself to calmly walk back to the window that peeked into the kitchen. Just in front of that window were the drink machines. A bunch of name brand sodas, lemonades, and tea, just as you'd expect in a diner. Taking a glass, Amy filled it expertly with just the right amount of ice before pouring in the fresh sweet tea that she herself had made upon her arrival to work.

"So, he you're hubby or something?"

Amy nearly dropped the freshly made drink as Nimby scared her. A fierce blush ran across her muzzle as she almost bucked the purple rabbit out of the way. "That would be none of your business now get back to sleep before a customer walks in and sees you." Amy could hear Nimby stick her tongue out while rolling her eyes. She didn't quite care though. This was absolutely none of Nimby's business. Plus, the less the annoying rabbit knew about her life the better.

It took her exactly ten seconds to get back to Tails with his sweet tea. "Typical," Amy gently set the glass down in front of her old friend as he buried his head into the menu, "not even a minute away and you're already neck deep in something."

"Hardy har har Amy," it made Amy giggle once more as the fox's voice rung out from inside the menu. "I'd like to get the banana cream pie if it'd be no trouble."

This forced Amy to do something akin to a double take. Dessert at this time of day, that simply wasn't like Tails, but she wasn't really in a position to question an odd order. "Very good, I'll have the kitchen whip you one up in a jiffy. Is that all?"

Closing the menu, Tails handed the pink hedgehog his menu, "Yep, I'm fine."

Smiling, Amy took off to the kitchen window with the menu in hand. Swiftly she jotted down the order on a little pad of paper before tearing the piece off and ringing the kitchen bell. Leaving no time for breathing, Amy left the note behind with the bell as she returned the menu to the waitress station.

A thought then struck the pink hedgehog; she had seen something back near the kitchen window. It had been Nimby standing in the door of their boss Mitch. Her pose, the way the rabbit haphazardly let her hand rest on her significantly sized behind while skillfully bending over just enough so her uniform sagged just enough. A fierce shiver ran up Amy's back as she turned to look back to Mitch's office; the door now stood closed and Nimby was nowhere in sight. That bothered the pink hedgehog greatly. No matter how many times she saw hints of the way Nimby 'got' things from Mitch she was sure that it'd never be easy to think about. There was just something so dirty about the whole affair that made Amy queasy.

"Amy, you gonna keep me waiting or are you just too busy with pretty colors?"

Thank God for Tails, Amy repeated that line in her head over a hundred times. She was sure that if he hadn't said something then she probably would've remained standing there like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.


	4. No Heroes Allowed

"So, where exactly did you get that nifty little pouch on your arm?" Amy nodded her head in the direction of Tails' arm so that he knew what she was talking about.

Cheeks filled with pie, the fox turned his head to see what she was nodding towards. Upon seeing that she meant his Handy Pouch, Tails excitedly chewed his food quickly in an attempt to talk about his latest invention.

Seeing Tails' face contort to look like a foraging squirrel made Amy burst with laughter, not very lady-like but Amy didn't bother herself with being as proper around an old friend she hadn't seen in forever.

A quick gulp preceded Tails gasping for air as he finally had no food in his mouth beyond crumbs. Multiple seconds passed as the fox composed himself before he geared himself up for one of his great passions in life; describing an invention of his.

"This little pouch, as you so adequately said, is my latest and my most useful invention ever. I call it the Handy Pouch. It's an elastic armband attached to a leather pouch with several slots for holding tools, screws, bolts, or anything like that. Thanks to this nifty little thing I can just load my tools into it instead of keeping them on the tool bench. That allows me to get more work done on my bigger and more important inventions."

Stunned, Amy scratched cheek as she absorbed this information. "Tails, you do know that your little 'Handy Pouch' has already been invented, right? It's called a tool belt."

Almost as if on cue the little fox began to sport possibly the smuggest smirk to ever be smirked. "Ah, but what happens when you're underneath the belly of an aircraft in your workshop and you only have enough room to reach your arms? The Handy Pouch is located either on your forearm, bicep, or even your wrist. Also, tool belts tend to drop your tools when you're crawling around under your inventions. That Handy Pouch doesn't have that problem. If you put a tool in here, it won't go anywhere until you take it back out." Visibly feeling accomplished with his home-made commercial, Tails turned his attention back to the pie before him. "The applications really are limitless if you put your mind to it. Any profession could benefit from my Handy Pouch. Electrician, butler, scientist, police officer, fireman, and even waiters like you." Just then the fox's blue eyes jutted back up to look across the table to Amy; a telltale sign that Tails has just remembered something.

"I thought you were working?"

"Ah, so you noticed. You see Tails; you're not the only talented inventor around here. I've invented a revolutionary thing called lunch. When you're at work and you have yet to eat, it allows you to take almost thirty minutes or so to have a break from work so you can eat." Overcome by her silliness, Amy burst out into a fit of giggles just as Tails started to laugh along with her.

"You should probably think about getting that patented." Once the fox was done laughing he returned his attention to the tasty pie before him. "Hey Amy, do me a favor and give my compliments to the chef for this pie. It's delicious." Tails meant that, he never complimented food if he didn't mean it. And that wasn't just because the fox couldn't lie; it was because he couldn't lie very well at all.

A blush flashed across Amy's muzzle, no one had ever said such a thing about the pie. "You really like it?" She didn't want to say anything for fear of being called a liar, but the banana cream pie that Tails was munching on was in fact a product of Amy's toiling around the kitchen.

Immediately Tails deciphered Amy's poor poker face. After all, he was the smartest fox in the world. "No way; you made this? That's amazing! You should totally bring one to the party!" In his excitement Tails shoveled another fork-full into his mouth hungrily.

Confusion struck across Amy's brow, "Party?" She hadn't heard anything about a party. That worried her slightly. Unlike Amy, Tails was still very much in contact with the entire group. Being an inventor let him pick his own hours and therefore he could make time to talk with, visit, or hang out with anyone he wanted. If there was a party that Amy wasn't aware of, that meant they hadn't contacted her and that meant that she had fallen so out of the loop with her friends that they weren't going to invite her to a party.

Realizing his mistake instantly, Tails dropped his fork while swallowing quickly in embarrassment. "That's right! I haven't told you yet! Well, I decided to throw a party for Vanilla and Cream to welcome them back this weekend. Everybody's been invited. In fact, I was gonna come find you tomorrow to tell you about it."

Hopes were raised immediately within Amy's heart as she heard Tails mention that everybody was an invited. "Everybody, does that include Sonic?" She couldn't help herself. The pink hedgehog hadn't seen her hero in too long and Tails happened to be perhaps the only person who knew where the blue blur had run off to.

Feeling Amy's anticipation rising, Tails dreaded the next part. Of everyone in the group Sonic had entrusted only Tails with his new phone number. He had specifically ordered the fox not to give anyone that number, saying something about needing time by alone. Tails didn't like it; it made him feel like he was no responsible for telling everybody about Sonic's whereabouts, but he figured that Sonic had earned some time off thanks to his multiple victories over Dr. Eggman.

Taking a nervous breath, Tails decided the truth was the best option, "I texted him an invite, but he said that he didn't want to attend." Seeing sadness immediately coming over the pink hedgehog Tails went into damage control, "but Cream, Vanilla, me, and Knuckles are all gonna be there. Come on Amy, join us. It'll be a lot of fun."

"Knuckles? How'd you swing that one?" Though it was vastly depressing to hear that Sonic actively wanted nothing to do with the party, Amy chalked it up to the blue blur being busy with crime fighting or something important, she was more than surprised to hear that Knuckles was going to attend. It took a lot to get the thick-headed echidna down off his rock.

A sense of pride came over Tails as he used a napkin to pat away some crumbs from around his mouth. Convincing Knuckles to come had been the very first thing Tails had seen to. He'd thought it would be the hardest thing in the world to do, but it went off surprisingly well. "Yeah, at first he didn't want to go obviously, but as soon as I dropped Cream's name on him he reconsidered in his own special grumbling way." It was a known fact in the group that young Cream had begun to take quite the liking to Knuckles. She looked up to him a lot more than what anyone thought the little rabbit would.

Standing up, Tails picked the plate up with him that still had a little bit of pie left. "Well, I've got some more work to get to. This was just a small reward for my hard work today." In one morning the fox had managed to actually solve one of the many problems he wasn't aware the Tornado had and thus was able to make it a more efficient aircraft. Seeing Amy starting to stand up, Tails decided he would savor this pie longer. "Can I get this boxed?"

Giggling, Amy led Tails over to the register. "Of course, don't go spoiling yourself though. You'll get all fat and grumpy and then before you know it you'll go bald and grow a giant mustache."


	5. Facing the Beast

Nervousness crept over Amy as she wiped Tails' table down. She was taking as much time as she needed to take doing so as she did not want to do what needed to be done; ask Mitch about using her vacation days to free up some time for Cream and the party. What the pink hedgehog wanted was to have the rest of the week, the weekend, and the first two days of the next week off. That was seven days that she wanted to take off, which amounted a very serious margin of time she was going to ask to not work. Amy didn't have any clue exactly how Mitch would react to hearing her request. He could easily just say no and ruin everything. The worst case scenario was that the perverted groundhog would require Amy to service him in the same ways Nimby was. Though Amy wanted to attend this party more than anything else in the world but she didn't want to whore herself out to do so.

What made Amy the most uncomfortable was seeing that Mitch's door was still closed from where Nimby had entered nearly an hour ago and at any minute the purple rabbit would come stumbling out like the slut she was. In fact, it made the pink hedgehog so nervous that she continued to wipe the top of the table even though it had long since dried.

Trying to protect her from any of the harm that may come to her by asking for that many days off, Amy's mind worked up as many alternate choices as possible. One option was that she just not ask Mitch about using the vacation days and just use them. Another choice would be to feign an illness. The least promising alternative was that she just quit. However, Amy needed this job. Without the money it provided she would be homeless within two months. So despite how Nimby did not work, how customers treated her, or how Mitch may sexually harass her, Amy couldn't allow herself to lose the job.

Just then the door to Mitch's office creaked open just enough for Nimby to slip out. Her appearance screamed volumes about what had gone on during her absence. The purple rabbit's fur was completely frizzed and clumped together with sweat. Nimby's normally half-closed hazel eyes were now almost entirely closed as if the rabbit had been depriving herself of sleep. Most telling was the ruffled condition her uniform was now in. Her collar skewed and wrinkled, buttons out of order, nametag upside down, and missing an apron. All of it further piled onto Amy's mounting discomfort.

Her stride as smooth as ever, Nimby strutted across the room to Amy. Without saying a word, the purple rabbit snatched a cup and poured herself what was left of the coffee that was made for the customers. Humming to herself as though she were in a musical that only she could hear the music to, Nimby poured a bit of cream into the coffee before stirring it briskly.

"So, where'd your hubby run off to?" The words left the rabbit's mouth with a yawn.

Never before had Amy been so disgusted by somebody, not even Eggman was as bad as Nimby. At least he had self-respect and didn't whore himself out in order to get what he wanted. The worst part was how Nimby seemed to be capable of just shrugging off her little romance with Mitch. She could stride into that perverted groundhog's office and then bounce out without a care in the world. It was like she didn't even care that what she was doing was wrong on so many levels.

Confused, Nimby turned to face the mentally occupied pink hedgehog. A sly smirk slithered its way across the rabbit's lips as she finally began to grasp just how disturbing this all was for Amy. "You in there Amy? You'd better be, cause I don't think Mitch's paying you to stand around doing nothing."

Amy's eyes turned to focus on Nimby. There were so many words she wanted to scream at the slutty rabbit; so many things that the pink hedgehog felt needed to be said. That wasn't like Amy; she wasn't one to blow up in someone's face with curse words and other such phrases. To do so would lower her to a level that she didn't ever want to know. However, those thoughts would never leave Amy. It was unfortunate for her, but Amy prided herself in keeping her vocabulary unsoiled.

The pink hedgehog handed the wet cloth to Nimby in a move that seemed to catch the rabbit off guard. With her usual pep shining, Amy decided that being more mature was better than getting even, "Watch the floor for me. I promise I won't be long." Making sure to maintain a calm demeanor, Amy walked casually up to Mitch's door. Her heart beating faster each second, Amy knocked quickly on Mitch's door. She wanted this be done with as quickly as possible.

A guttural voice slowly answered the knocking, "Come on in."

Fear gripping every part of her being, Amy opened the door so that she could enter. Her eyes were immediately met by the form of the suit wearing Mitch. As she expected, Mitch's eyes worked their way up her body before locking up with Amy's.

"Now to what do I owe this pleasure?"

At first she had planned on speaking quickly in an attempt to make this nightmare end quickly, but Amy hadn't anticipated on the words getting caught in her throat the way they did, this left the pink hedgehog standing there trying to force the words out. It became slowly obvious to her that she would have to speak slowly in order for the ordeal to pass and that meant that Amy would have to remain calm so as not to sound frightened.

With two deep breaths, Amy finally managed to work some words out, "I was wondering if I could use some of my vacation days…" The strain of remaining calm had almost left Amy breathless after the burst of words.

Mitch's response was slow and deliberate. He brought his finger to his lips and traced them lightly as he once again studied Amy's body some more. Every second the groundhog's eyes remained focused on her was torture and it took absolutely every bit of her willpower to refrain from shaking. A smile sluggishly found its way onto Mitch's mug as his brow furrowed slightly as if in anticipation, "Close the door for me Amy. I like to conduct conversations with my employees in privacy."

Shaking slightly as her will began to give in, Amy closed the door at an agonizing pace. Not once could she cleanly look Mitch in the eye; she was scared she'd pass out.

Once Amy's attention was once again squarely on Mitch, the groundhog hummed quietly to himself as he pulled out a calendar. "Now then, just tell me which days you wish to use your vacation days for."

"Tomorrow through next Tuesday," regretfully the words leaped directly out of Amy's lips in hurried cluster. The only hope she could manage to muster was that Mitch hadn't heard her and thus save her from the awkwardness of him knowing how nervous she was.

Tapping his finger lightly on each of the requested days, Mitch even did Amy the courtesy of following his finger with his eyes. However, this only lasted a few seconds before those perverted eyes found Amy's once again. "Well Amy, that's seven days. That's seven days that include Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; our busiest days." Mitch leaned back in his leather office share and brought his hands to rest on his stomach, a sly smile easily visible just beneath the surface. "You're asking quite a lot Miss Rose."

Her legs now trembling slightly, Amy nodded quickly, "Yes sir, but I figured that since I have yet to use any of my vacation days since I began working here that you may overlook that."

"If you don't mind my asking, what exactly is so important that you wish to take a reprieve from the busiest days of the week?"

Amy's mouth became dry as fear gripped her. Though she avoided looking directly into the groundhog's eyes, Amy could feel the searching eyes trace her body. "A close friend of mine is coming home after being away all summer and I wanted to spend some time with her before she has to go to school."

"That's very kind of you. You may take those days off. In fact, take the rest of the night off; you look like you've had a rough day." Though Mitch was being incredibly nice, Amy could feel the underlying lust in his deep voice.

Taking advantage of her nervousness, Amy eagerly bowed her head in thanks while putting on the most gracious smile she could muster. "Thank you sir, I promise I'll work four times harder than usual next week." Amy's heart beat three times faster with every passing second. The sooner Mitch let her leave, the better.

"Don't mention it Amy, you've earned your vacation." Before the groundhog could say anything else, the phone that sat on his desk rang saving Amy.

Quickly, Amy left Mitch's office and immediately bolted for the door. In her hurry the pink hedgehog nearly bucked Nimby to the ground. "S-Sorry Nimby, have fun tonight!" A second not being wasted, Amy burst out of the diner and briskly began to make her way home.


	6. Eve of the Storm

Lightening streaked across a pale sky shrouded heavily in the blackest storm clouds. Thunder shook the landscape as rain pelted the now muddy ground in sheets. Rain drops flew at near fifty degree angles as the fierce wind kicked up debris into the air.

Running throughout the flooded hills was the shaking figure of a pink hedgehog. Her fur clumped together as rain effortlessly soaked straight to her bones. Weighing the hedgehog down was what had once been a spotless red dress with a perfectly snug fit now clung to her body in a dark crimson mess with streaks of mud adding to the burden the fabric faced at holding itself together. Tears mixed into the muddy fur beneath her eyes as wind whipped painfully against the poor girl's face.

Though the pink hedgehog was faced with the adversity of weather and the condition of her dress she continued to run on as fast she could. She had to keep running; it was the only option. Giving up would only prove how weak she was. Unfortunately, her body was much weaker than her will. A gust of wind easily pushed her sluggish form to the ground, forcing her knees to dig deeply into the puddles of mud.

Desperate, the hedgehog opened her mouth to call out for help, but the rain instantly pooled into her mouth to silence her pleas. Turning her head to the ground the hedgehog spit out the water that had collected into her mouth. In an effort to keep her body warm, she crossed her quivering arms across her chest; however, the warmth would never come.

Hopelessness setting in, the pink hedgehog tried her best to rise to her feet. She strained as hard as she could but to no avail; her body had quit. The muddy grass suddenly lit up with bright white light as lightening revealed the darkened world. For a moment everything seemed fine, just as if the storm had never happened. The grass wasn't drowning beneath mud, the sky was clear of storm clouds, and the sun shone happily onto the peaceful world. This vision, though soothing, was shattered by a crack of thunder that seemed to come from within the ground itself.

Tears now pooling into her lap, the pink hedgehog forced her eyes to look ahead of her. There was no sign of him; nothing but the inky depth of a void that quickly consuming her with depression. She hadn't been able to catch him. With the depression came a feeling of discovery for her; she wouldn't have a hero this time. Accepting her fate, the pink hedgehog closed her eyes as thunder tore the world apart.

Awakened by the pooling tears on her pillow, Amy slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. Using her covers to wipe away the tears, the pink hedgehog hugged herself tightly for comfort. This was a near constant scene for her. Every month she would be plagued by the same dream of her and Sonic dining out somewhere on a date. It always ended the same way. However, every now and then she would fall asleep only to find herself sprinting through some sort of apocalyptic world. She hated that nightmare. The first time she had experienced it had caused the poor girl to wake up screaming in fear thanks to the thunder within the dream. She didn't want anyone to know about this particular dream; Amy didn't want to know what it meant.


	7. Making Her Way Down Memory Lane

Pitch black fur, savage scarlet eyes, and a bone structure that demanded onlookers to drool, the picture truly didn't do Shadow justice. It took every fiber of her being not to drool over the photo of the ultimate life form. The sheer physical attraction Shadow emitted was enough for the pink hedgehog to nearly forget about the tea she had put on.

Amy was broken away from the photo album by the ringing of the egg timer that she used in conjunction with her coffee maker. Putting the heavy book down, the pink hedgehog moved swiftly into the kitchen area of her apartment and was immediately met with the wonderful smell the tea gave off.

As she prepared the tea Amy couldn't help but drift back to the photos in the album. It was composed entirely of photographs taken of her friends. Amazingly, Amy had some rather rare pictures of Shadow. He wasn't smiling in any of them, but Amy was still proud to have such a rarity in her possession.

Returning to the album with a hot cup of tea Amy once again looked upon the picture of the black hedgehog. It had been taken at Rouge's last birthday party. At the time Shadow was renting a room in Rouge's house and the funny thing was that Shadow didn't even know the party was going to happen; the poor dear was taken completely by surprise. Rouge actually managed to convince the moody hedgehog to stay for her. Though he didn't mingle with anybody Shadow sat in the corner and occupied himself with his thoughts.

Flipping through the pages, Amy glanced down upon the numerous photos of Rouge and her doing silly poses. She stopped on the picture that had been the last to be taken that night, taken with the camera on a timer so that everyone could appear in it. Standing to Rouge's right, with her right arm wrapped around his neck, was Knuckles, who had been especially invited by the bat. For a long time the two had held strong feelings for one another and according to Rouge, "The only thing she wanted more than the Master Emerald was the echidna that guarded it." Amy sipped her hot tea gingerly as she giggled at the memory of Rouge telling her and Vanilla what she saw in Knuckles. To Rouge's immediate left was, of course, Amy with Rouge's left arm wrapped securely around her waist as the pink hedgehog waved to the camera. Standing just behind Rouge and Knuckles was the ever jolly Shadow sporting yet another frown.

Amy considered it to be a true pity in the way of Shadow's disposition. She knew of how heroic and strong he was. Though Shadow had managed to bury it in layers of ice he had a huge heart. Rouge had once enlightened Amy to the stories Shadow told her about his time on the ARK. He was happy there. Maria and Gerald were his family. The bat lamented about how Shadow only ever displayed his true nature at the thought of Maria. Otherwise he had killed his emotions. It was sad, but Amy knew it couldn't be helped. How can someone lose everyone they love, with their dearest dying right in front of them, and go on to live a happy life? Shadow's story served as a reminder to Amy; she had to protect her friends. Sure, Eggman was bad but he didn't hold a candle to rest of his race. Amy was determined to never lose her friends, they simply mattered too much and she was nowhere near as strong as Shadow.

Standing under Amy's left arm in the picture was none other than the smartest fox in the world; Tails. Amy really did love Tails. At first he had only been a necessary annoyance for her to get to Sonic. However, the ever upbeat Tails had endeared himself to the pink hedgehog. He was a dream come true, always truthful and never disrespectful. A long time ago, long before Amy ever met Cream, Sonic told Amy about how Tails was his hero. For all the times the blue blur had been there for the world, Tails had always been just behind him ready to catch his best friend in case he ever slipped.

Tears began to well up inside Amy's eyes as she spotted Sonic peeking over Tails' left shoulder, barely making it into the picture. She had so much to say to him, so much to ask. Sonic's last words were always circulating in Amy's mind, always whispering into her thoughts like some accursed fly. Though she had deep reservoirs of rage for Sonic due to his leaving, Amy always kept her feelings at bay. What allowed for her to maintain a cool head while thinking about the blue blur was the thought that perhaps Sonic had earned the right to leave. After all, he had saved the world almost ten or eleven times from Eggman.

Sighing sadly, the pink hedgehog sipped on her tea before closing the album and sliding it across her coffee table. The one thing Amy wanted more than anything else in this world was closure regarding Sonic. Why would he say such things to someone who thought so much of him? What had he done to her that required him, the multi-time savior of the Earth, to apologize? Unfortunately, Amy feared that she may never find that out. Tails didn't know anything and he was the only that would.

Using her hand to wipe away the few tears to have fallen, Amy pulled her legs into the chair with her for comfort. The scent of fabric softener calmed the pink hedgehog as her yellow pajama bottoms brushed against her chin. Deciding she was done with active thought for the evening, Amy snatched the remote for the television and began to flip through the channels in search of something to watch.


	8. Looking Forward to the Past

Amy's arms trembled with stress as she scuttled down the sidewalk. In her arms sat two banana cream pies that she had made especially for the party. Though the pies weren't heavy by any means the length of time she had spent holding the deserts was going on an hour. It had actually taken the pink hedgehog almost thirty minutes to find the correct street that lead to Tails' house. The 14 minute bus-ride into the suburbs didn't help much either.

The houses that she walked by amazed Amy, she didn't usually see such wondrous buildings due to her existence in the city. Each home was about what Amy guessed was average size for a family of three or so and each came with a driveway that connected to a two car garage. With every sight she took in the pink hedgehog assured herself again and again that she would be dreaming of owning a house similar to those that she admired. Of course she would never be able to afford such a sizable -to an apartment dweller- house on her meager salary. It was a miracle to her that Tails and Vanilla could even own a house.

What intrigued Amy the most was that Tails not only had bought one of these dwellings, he owned both a huge workshop in the country at the exact same time. Knowing of her friend's above-average building ownerships made the pink hedgehog want to become an inventor herself. The pay Tails' profession brought in would basically solve all of Amy's problems.

As her mind ran wild with the possibilities such an amount of money would provide, Amy's eyes quickly skimmed the addresses of the mailboxes in search of the particular pattern that belonged to Tails' home. Her thoughts occupied, it never occurred to the pink hedgehog that she had just surpassed four times the amount of walking distance she had covered in the previous month. The muscles in Amy's legs relaxed more than they had in since she adopted a more sedentary lifestyle. Fond memories of the miles Amy used to run in pursuit of Sonic were drilled into the pink hedgehog's legs and all of the motion only served to remind her body of the past. For the first time in years she felt right, as if she had just found her true purpose. In her dazed state of monitorial fantasy and muscular nostalgia Amy almost missed seeing the familiar pattern that was Tails' home address.

"Well, here we are," said Amy as she sighed happily with anticipation of reuniting the gang. Wasting no time, the pink hedgehog dashed up Tails' driveway and turned sharply onto the walkway that led to the front door. In seconds Amy's gloved finger had crudely mashed into the door bell activating a cartoonish ring to echo throughout the house. "Of course Tails would have such a goofy doorbell. What else was I expecting?" Giggling, Amy juggled the pies carefully in her arms so she could carry them easier.

The giggling subsided as the front door swung open to reveal the familiar form of the two-tailed fox that happened to own the place. What was at first a small grin that Tails' had plastered on to greet Amy burst into a full blown smile at the sight of the pies. "Amy! Good to see you!" Practically jumping forward into a hug, Tails eagerly led the girl into his house making good care to not harm what would soon become the pies.

"Oh yeah, cause it's been ages since we last saw each other. I almost forgot what you looked like." Rolling her eyes in humor, Amy returned as much of the hug as she could while keeping her balance.

Breaking off the hug in order to close the door behind them, Tails immediately pranced down the hall and around a corner sounding off like a choirboy, "You can put the pies in the kitchen. Everyone's been waiting to eat." Following with as much gusto as the fox, Amy almost skipped into the kitchen.

The bright linoleum of the kitchen was enough to briefly blind the pink hedgehog causing her to bump into the counter roughly. Cringing in momentary pain, Amy placed the pies down before exhaling in pleasure due to the pleasant smell the food gave off. Underneath the pungent smell of food was the scent of two people she dreadfully missed; one a lilac odor with hints of vanilla and cinnamon, the other a mix of peaches and daffodils.

"Amy!"

A sudden pressure gripped Amy's waist from behind as she adjusted to the light of the bright kitchen tiles. Recognizing it immediately as none other than her very own sidekick Cream, the pink hedgehog spun rapidly to look down into the glistening eyes of her best friend. "I'm not sure, but I think I know you. Your name wouldn't happen to be Cream, would it?"

Giggling fiercely as she jumped into the open arms Amy now held out, Cream hugged her best friend tightly. She had missed having her 'big sister' around. Quickly the young girl regained her composure before taking on a rather casual look, "Perhaps, who's asking?"

Smirking, the pink hedgehog took in the rabbit's appearance. The young girl had actually grown quite a lot in the summer she had been away. With an added foot to her height it appeared that what was a child in spring had blossomed into the early stages of her tween years. In place of the familiar orange dress was now a light blue skirt accessorized with a white belt. Sticking out from Cream's eyes were eyelashes that had never been there before. Dangling from the rabbit's neck was a golden pendant that Amy recognized as a birthday present she had gifted Cream with on her last birthday.

"How was camp?" said Amy as she hid her amazement at Cream's maturity in appearance.

"It was great! I have so much-"

"Am I the only one here who cares that the food is getting cold?"

Both Cream and Amy winced in humor as the rough voice sounded off from the dining room. Her ears twitching in familiarity with the voice, Amy spoke quietly so she could prevent a further outburst from the next room, "I can only imagine who that ray of sunshine might be."

"You'll have to forgive Knuckles; he hasn't quite gotten the concept of being a gentleman yet." Cream's apology for the red echidna had to fight through the young girl's giggles to be audible, a fight the echidna no doubt heard from the dining room.


	9. Strong as Stone, Dumb as Rock

Spaghetti and meatballs, who would've guessed? The thought forced Amy to stifle her giggles as she filled her plate up with the wonderful smelling dinner. Of all the food that exists to be made, spaghetti and meatballs happened to be the one thing Tails knew how to make well. Tails found this out the hard way when he literally burnt a bowl of cereal once. Amy began to bite her bottom lip to force her laughter to keep quiet. What made the whole food situation so humorous was that Tails absolutely refused to tell anyone exactly how he burnt that bowl of cereal.

Quickly the pink hedgehog's plate was covered in her limit of food. After all, there was only so much Italian food Amy could eat before having to become worried about over-eating. It all looked so good. Amy could easily tell that Tails had worked hard to make this dish. Her only hope was that the fox's effort was evident in the taste of the sauce. The sauce was a constant foe for the young fox. In all the times he had made spaghetti it was the sauce that proved to be the most difficult thing to master.

Twirling the noodles up in her fork, Amy took great care in making the noodles absorb as much of the sauce as possible so she could give the cook her honest opinion. With a deep breath Amy took in the warm ball of noodles. Her taste buds were suddenly assaulted with the array of different spices she could sense within the sauce. Amy eyed the plate with pleasure as she allowed the fork-full of spaghetti to fall into her stomach. She had honestly never tasted better sauce in her life.

"Tails, you outdid yourself this time. This sauce is amazing!" The compliment came with the usual upbeat energy that Amy was sure the group expected of her.

His eyes glistening with gratitude, Tails smiled happily. "You think so? I've never been able to get it just right. I'll have to remember this recipe." The pink hedgehog took great satisfaction in watching the fox energetically scoop up noodles with his fork into his waiting maw.

As usual, Cream chimed in following Amy's compliment. "Yeah Tails, I agree with Amy. Good job!" Unlike the pink hedgehog's opinion, the rabbit's managed to make Tails blush.

"I'll make sure to give Vanilla my recipe. That way you can enjoy it whenever."

Though Cream giggled in appreciation of the offer, Amy could tell Tails regretted his words. For the last year it had become clear to Vanilla, Amy, and Rouge that the fox had developed romantic feelings for Cream. It was cute to watch how the super-genius stumbled clumsily over his very own words for over the young rabbit. No one was sure whether or not Cream had caught on yet, but Amy hoped she would, if only to let the boy down gently to prevent leading him on.

Eating slowly, Amy observed the table subtly. Vanilla sat at the head of the table eating her plate politely with air of elegance that just couldn't be copied to perfection. Sitting to her right on the side of the rectangular table was Vanilla's pride and joy, Cream. The young rabbit postured herself in an attempt to copy her mother's form. Even the way she ate the spaghetti mimicked Vanilla. Sitting to Cream's right was, much to Tails' silent chagrin, Knuckles. The echidna was obviously in conflict with himself. It was clear to Amy that the amount of effort he put into remaining as polite in eating as possible was astounding. She had personally never seen the guardian act so gentlemanly. However, sulking directly under the surface was the sloppy echidna that Amy remembered from her first meeting with Knuckles. It showed itself slightly every time her slurped up a noodle. Sitting across from Cream was none other than her secret admirer Tails.

Amy's mind stopped as she observed the way the fox boy yearned to sit next to Cream. It hurt the pink hedgehog greatly to see. Tails' jealousy was very apparent. Right now he wanted to be Knuckles more than anything else in the world. Strange as it was, Amy wanted to be Tails more than anyone else in the world. The fox boy knew where Sonic was and if there was anyone that could convince the blue blur to come home, it was Tails. Amy felt so very sorry for the fox boy, she knew how it felt to sit and watch the object your heart desires seemingly ignore your advances.

Unfortunately for Tails, the object he desired was only interested in one person; Knuckles. It had begun innocently enough; admiration for saving the world and thankfulness at being saved. Much to everyone's surprise, Cream fell head over heels for the echidna. It wasn't that Amy couldn't understand the attraction, Knuckles was indeed a beautiful creature. Broad shoulders, thick arms, a strong brow that could support the heaviest of scowls, angelic spines that fell like dreadlocks and a herculean jaw line that defied the typical template of handsomeness. Add onto that with the mystique that came with Knuckles job as the guardian of the Master Emerald and you get an Adonis. Sadly, this alienated Tails as he could hardly capture Cream's imagination like Knuckles did. Every strict teaching that Vanilla brought her daughter up with didn't exist with the echidna. Not to mention the fact that Vanilla was uneasy about how her daughter felt. In fact, Amy was almost convinced that some of the attraction stemmed from the lack of rules Knuckles abided by, a stark contrast to Cream's rule-riddled life. The adult rabbit just didn't know if she could trust Knuckles enough to not take advantage of her daughter. Luckily, Rouge and Amy managed to convince the worried mother that the guardian was far too stupid to even realize Cream's attraction to him let alone take advantage of it.

Almost as if on cue Cream chirped a nervous question up to the guardian that captivated her, "What do you think Knuckles, didn't Tails do a fine job with the spaghetti?" Cream's eyes sparkled as she found an excuse to actually talk to the echidna.

Knuckles furrowed his brow in thought as his fork clumsily pushed a meatball around his plate. Again Amy had to suppress a giggle, this time thanks to just how much thought Knuckles was seemingly putting into such a simple analysis.

"I don't know, I'm not really a fan of Italian food, but I guess its fine."

"That's ok; Amy brought some pies for desert! They're in the kitchen just waiting to be eaten."

Fierce purple eyes suddenly began to bore into Amy's. The sheer force with which the echidna's attention was caught sent a tremor down the pink hedgehog's back. "Pies?"

Making sure to finish chewing completely before answering, Amy nervously spoke, "Yeah, banana cream pies. They're kind of my specialty…" Her nerves rattled like an old car as the pink hedgehog looked for any sign of a reaction. She didn't want to be the one to ruin the evening by feeding Knuckles something he didn't want.

All of Amy's nerves fell to a peaceful state as Knuckles' face contorted into the classic shape of confusion. She had seen this look one too many times from the echidna and it never lost the humor that came with it. "Banana cream? You can put bananas into a pie?"

The entire table froze as even Vanilla was forced to restrain her laughter at the absurdity that was Knuckles' question.

"Well…yes, if you're a good enough cook I suppose." That was the straw that broke the camel's back. With obvious exclusion of Knuckles, who just sat in embarrassment, everybody at the table began to laugh. Vanilla brought her hand to her mouth to try and retain some of her regality. Cream innocently giggled along with Amy, though the young rabbit made sure to keep an eye on the echidna to see if his feelings were hurt by the laughter. Tails lost it, he laughed like he had never heard a joke in his life.

Sighing happily as she made quick work of the remaining spaghetti on her plate, Amy just watched as the rest of the table conversed happily. The conversations were nearly all held by Cream and Tails with some inclusion of Amy and Vanilla. Knuckles, of course, just sat and watched everyone else have fun. Amy loved this, she missed nights like these.


	10. Gluttony vs Knuckles

All Amy could do was look on in complete and utter disbelief as Knuckles sat next to what was once an entire pie. The red echidna had tried one small piece of the banana cream pie to see if he would like some more. Much to Amy's shock, Knuckles devoured the slice once he tasted it. She had never seen anyone inhale something so quickly. Silently Amy mourned for Tails as the poor fox sat in what had to be a personal hell. Not only had the guardian stolen Cream's heart, but the echidna had also stolen an entire pie.

"Would anyone like a slice of pie?" The angelic tone broke the silence from the kitchen where Cream and Vanilla had been doing dishes. Tails and Amy had insisted to do the cleaning but Vanilla had been unnaturally forceful in convincing the two to let her and Cream take care of the dishes.

Completely derailed by the loss of an entire pie, Tails had to force a response, "If it wouldn't trouble you then I would like one…"

Though Amy didn't have quite the appetite for deserts like Tails and Knuckles, she did have a fondness for her confections. "I'll take one, but you two should really come in here and relax. Tonight is a celebration of your return and you shouldn't be the one to do all the work."

"Nonsense, we'll handle it." Though Vanilla's reply came in the exact same tone as her previous question, an undertone of authority carried what appeared to be an order to Amy.

That was something the pink hedgehog just couldn't understand completely. What did Vanilla find so soothing about cleaning? It was just beyond everything.

"How about you Knuckles, would you like some slices?" Cream's voice matched her mother's in the near heavenly tone that carried her words. Amy was incredibly jealous of the rabbits. She'd kill to have their voices.

Before Tails could object, Knuckles stood abruptly. Pie crumbs tumbled from the echidna's broad chest as he stretched his back, a distinct crack resounding from within the guardian's back. "I'm fine for now," the words were followed by a grunt of satisfaction. One of Knuckles least attractive habits was his tendency to crack his joints.

Once his prolonged grunt was complete, the echidna strode casually into the kitchen without even a single word in respect to either Tails or Amy.

The very second Knuckles was out of earshot the young fox sounded off, carefully venting his hidden frustrations, "I forgot how charming he could be." Amy couldn't help but laugh. Despite Cream's evident efforts to domesticate the guardian, the stubborn echidna retained a vast collection of his socially ignorant habits.

As Tails started to laugh, Knuckles returned to the sitting room –a scowl directed to the giggling fox– carrying a bowl filled to the brim with grapes. Amy recognized them immediately as the delicious natural fruit of Angel Island. Knuckles' grapes were renowned amongst the group for their large size and extra tang of flavor. She had to have one.

"You'd better be ready to share those."

A fierce purple eye pierced directly into Amy's eye as the echidna plopped down onto a couch. "Who said I was going to?"

"I did and I'm sure my hammer would agree with me."

Seconds passed by as the awkward silence between Amy and Knuckles continued. Tails actually braced himself for some rather volatile minutes as the stare down waged onward. It had been over a year since anyone had actually seen Amy with her infamous hammer, but the fox was well aware of the damage it was capable of and his frail house was going to be a definite victim should the weapon make an appearance.

Annoyed at the stubbornness of her opponent, Amy opened her mouth to once again threaten the guardian. Suddenly a grape landed directly onto the pink hedgehog's tongue, stopping her cold in her tracks. Emerald green eyes flared in surprise as Knuckles smirked victoriously.

Sighing in relief, Tails relaxed greatly as the continued health of his humble abode was assured. "Nice shot." Tails' words sunk in as Amy slowly came to realize that the echidna had flicked the succulent fruit into her mouth before biting down into the wondrous grape. Laughing then erupted from both Tails and Knuckles as the pink hedgehog's face contorted itself in pleasure over the flavor.

"Sorry to keep you waiting everybody," Cream's words rung out sweetly as she hurriedly stepped into the room carrying two plates with slices of pie on them. "Now, who wanted the slices?" Tails' hand immediately shot into the air in anticipation of what had quickly become his favorite desert. Giggling at Tails' eagerness, the young rabbit happily handed off one plate to the fox. Spinning with the gracefulness of a dancer, Cream passed on the second plate to Amy. With a large smile, she gently sat down next to Knuckles on the couch.

The silence was immediately broken by Cream once she turned to see what was left of Knuckles' pie. Amazement sank in as she admired the sight of what was once a pie. "Wow, those must be really good if you three have already finished one."

Eyeing her slice hungrily, Amy couldn't help but smirk evilly. The echidna may have shut her up with a well place grape, but he would have to sit and take Cream's anger like a big boy. After all, it wasn't very gentlemanly for someone to completely desecrate a pie. "Actually, Knuckles is to blame for that mess. He got one taste of my confection of perfection and pigged himself out on the rest of it."

Cream's usually docile eyes turned furiously up at the echidna that sat next to her. It was a rare feat for her to actually exhibit her hidden rage. Feeling the horror the future now held for him, Knuckles looked nervously into his admirer's eyes. As tough as the guardian was, he didn't want to be scolded for his lack of socially acceptable behavior. Fear gripped the room as the young rabbit's lips parted for speech. Tails couldn't wait to see the stubborn echidna to get what he deserved and Amy was eager to watch the show. "You brought grapes? From Angel Island?"

Taken aback by the observation, Knuckles nodded slowly before handing over one of the large grapes. "I brought them especially for you…" Amy and Tails rolled their eyes as the crimson echidna fibbed his way to safety. The tension in the room immediately defused upon Cream ingesting a grape.


	11. The Guardian's Wrath

Cream's eyes sparkled brightly as she ingested a forkful of Amy's pie. She had never tasted such a delicacy before and her taste buds exploded in sensation making her mind run wild in inspiration to create her own variation of the delectable desert. "Amy, you made this?"

Pride overwhelming her as both Vanilla and Tails happily munched on their slices, Amy sipped her tea delicately so as not to burn her lips. "Of course I did, who else can achieve such perfection?" Her voice swelled enormously with pride as she fought the urge to laugh.

"She's got quite the nice situation going on," Tails set his plate down onto the coffee table as he turned to face Vanilla, "Amy makes these pies at the little diner she works at." The mentioning of the diner made Amy shiver a bit. She hadn't expected to be thinking about her abysmal job until after her vacation.

Curiosity hung heavily in the air as the two rabbits eyed the pink hedgehog oddly. "I wasn't aware you had a job Amy, why didn't you tell us?" Vanilla sipped her tea politely while eyeing Amy for a response. Though Amy knew better, the look in the older rabbit's eyes made it appear that she was almost insulted at the lack of knowledge.

"It just never came up I guess…" Amy's heart beat raced as she mentally tried her best to steer the conversation clear of the topic of her job.

Never one to be left with questions unasked, Cream quickly followed the pink hedgehog's response with her own question, "Do you like it? Being a chef I mean. I pictured you more as a waitress than a cook."

"Actually, I am a waitress; the pies are just something special I do on Fridays. I like it though; it's a good gig…" Her uneasiness was practically obvious at this point. So much so that even the normally dense Knuckles caught onto it.

Worry weighing his brow down, Tails decided that now would be the appropriate time to bring up the issue that had been festering in his mind for days. "You sure about that; cause I swear I thought I saw you leaving in a hurry the other day?" The fox had spent several hours pondering what it was he saw. He hadn't gone after Amy that day due to the uncertainty that lay within him as to whether or not he actually saw what he thought he saw.

Amy's face froze in fear as she found herself on a tight rope of a secret. Any movement she made would reveal the truth to those watching. She didn't want this; Amy didn't want her friends to know what work was really like for her. However, Tails had to go and be annoyingly observant at times that it wasn't necessary. He had found her out. Even if she could convince him that he was mistaken, Vanilla would worry continuously for Amy. The fox had opened Pandora's Box and all the pink hedgehog could do was to be honest.

"Well…you see…my boss…he's a bit of a…well…a…" Worry creased Amy's face as she looked sorrowfully at Cream, she didn't want to risk harming the rabbit's innocence with details.

"Pervert?"

Everybody turned to face Knuckles as he finished Amy's sentence with a growl that seemed to make the very walls tremble. The look in the echidna's eyes was fierce, more so than she had ever seen him before. His violet eyes danced with flames of repressed rage at the information. Fear gripped the hedgehog as she struggled to understand the echidna's sudden anger.

"Oh Amy, I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. You don't have to though," Always one to comfort someone in need, Vanilla abused her angelic tone of voice to try and calm the hedgehog, "You can always come live with Cream and I if you need to. Nobody should have to put up with that kind of person just so they can pay the bills."

"My door is always open too Amy. I've got a guest room that is all yours if you want; free of charge." Tears welled up in Amy's eyes as she felt how much everybody cared. Vanilla and Tails were offering her homes while Cream was clearly fighting back tears at the thought of what Amy had to go through. The most surprising was Knuckles; his eyes were absolutely inflamed with controlled anger. He had never cared this much before so Amy was taken aback by the emotion.

The prospect of living with Vanilla or Tails was more than promising, it was practically a dream come true. Tails' house was huge, he was rarely home so it would basically just be her house, and Cream lived just down the street. Amy wanted to take the offer immediately; she desired greatly to get away from her current life. However, she couldn't do it; Amy had very good reasons for living her life. "I'm fine guys. Trust me; my boss isn't all that bad. He's easy to ignore. Plus, I need to do it on my own. I need to prove it to-"

"Sonic?" Amy's eyes bulged in shock at the aggravated snarl that accompanied the name of her hero from the lips of the now fuming echidna. She had honestly never seen Knuckles so furious at something so suddenly.

In her frail attempt to offer a rebuttal to Knuckles' accusation the pink hedgehog stuttered helplessly, "N-No…I n-need to p-prove-"

"The hell you have to prove anything to anybody, least of all that rat Sonic! Do you honestly think that if you prove to Sonic that you can take care of yourself that he'll come back? He won't, he never will. That jackass is gone because he's a coward! He doesn't want to face his mistakes and absolutely nothing will change that!" In his rage, the crimson echidna brought himself angrily to his feet with his fists balled tightly. Cream clung to the arm of the couch in fear of Knuckles' sudden reaction. She even knocked her pie to the floor in reaction. Vanilla could only watch in fear as the furious echidna unleashed his pent up rage. Similarly, Tails shook frightfully as he realized that if Knuckles were to become frenzied in anger, only Amy would be able to stop him with her hammer and the poor girl was frozen solid by the power of the Guardian's words. "Forget about him! You're better off without him anyway, we all are."

Noticing the level his anger was reaching, the echidna quickly stormed passed Tails and almost barreled through the front door without opening it. Luckily for Tails' house, the echidna managed to make it outside without destroying any furniture.


	12. Beats Being Blue

Amy sat in shock of what had just happened. Never before had Knuckles freaked out like he had just moments before. Not even Eggman or Rouge could get the echidna to explode so ferociously.

The echoes of Knuckles' words still reverberated through the empty house. In order to prevent further damage, Tails had left to take the enraged Guardian back to Angel Island with the Tornado. Only minutes later Vanilla decided to go home with Cream. Both she and Amy agreed that the poor little girl had seen enough of her crush's dark side to last her a lifetime. Cream would require a good rest to recover from the sight. This left Amy alone, alone and confused.

It was vastly common knowledge that the echidna disliked Sonic. The blue hedgehog had exactly what it was that Knuckles desired most; freedom. Making matters worse, Sonic flaunted his freedom. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to or with whomever he wanted. Meanwhile, Knuckles was stuck on an island populated by wildlife, the ruins of Knuckles' people, the Master Emerald, and one very lonely echidna. So it was to be expected for the Guardian to have sour things to say about Sonic. Nobody expected such an emotional rant to be triggered by the mere thought of the blue hedgehog.

What stood out to Amy most about the rant was the mention of Sonic's return. Knuckles declared that the blue blur would never return due to his cowardice. If that was so, then what exactly did Sonic's last words have to do with anything? It wasn't cowardly to apologize; Amy actually considered it to be quite brave.

A headache began to form within the pink hedgehog's head as the details swirled within her mind. Her footsteps barely even registered as she walked around Tails' living room looking at pictures. Most of them, as one would expect for the blue hedgehog's number two fan, had Sonic in them. Amy had seen all of them more than enough times to recount the occasions marked by each photo. As she reached the end of the mantle of the fireplace, Amy found something that she didn't expect to find; Tails' cell-phone.

The little screen was dimly lit up with the alert of a text message. Out of curiosity Amy picked the device up and examined the name on the alert. Seeing Sonic's name nearly forced her to drop the phone to the ground. With no regard to Tails' privacy the pink hedgehog clicked into the message. 'Sorry i couldnt b at ur party bro. howd it go?'

Seeing an opportunity that she couldn't pass, Amy dialed her hero's number as quick as she could. Nervously, the pink hedgehog waited for the sound of Sonic's voice from the phone.

"Yo Tails, how'd your little shindig go?"

Amy was forced to sit down due to the sheer pleasure that ran through her body at hearing the sound she missed most in the world. Unfortunately she couldn't decide on whether to hang up or go for broke and say something. To speak would probably result in the immediate end of the conversation, but to hang up would dash her one chance to talk to Sonic and straighten out the mess he left behind. Taking a deep breath Amy chose to be brave and talk to her hero, "Sonic…it's me… Amy…"

A silence persisted for nearly ten agonizing seconds in which Amy regretted ever picking the phone up. Sonic's breathing on the other end was the only thing that kept her from hanging up in fear. "Amy? Oh geez, I'm….well…I don't…I'm so sorry-"

"NO! Don't you dare say that again!" Possibly feeding off the remains of Knuckles anger, Amy unleashed months of hidden emotion into seven small words. It felt so good that she decided to give this ranting thing a shot, "I don't care how sorry you are, you did NOTHING worth apologizing for! NOTHING!"

"You don't understand Amy, I allowed you to think there was a chance….I….I lead you on…"

"Where in the hell did you get the idea that you were leading me on? I was always aware there was a definite possibility that nothing would come of my advances, but I continued to feel about you the way I still do because I choose to. You have nothing to do with it."

A pained sigh came from Sonic's end as Amy's words set in. "You don't have to say that Amy. Knuckles told me everything about how not telling how I truly felt would hurt you. He was right, I should never have let you think there was a chance for us… So please, just accept my apology and get back to your life. You're better off without me."

Amy's mind froze at Sonic's admission. She never would've guessed that it was Knuckles who made Sonic leave. "Knuckles told you that? Why would he say such a thing? Why would you believe him?"

"Because he was right Amy, all I wanted was a friendship with you and you wanted much more…."

"Do you know why he would say that? Please Sonic, tell me. I need to know."

Silence once again fell over the conversation as Amy fought her tears off. Hearing Sonic say that he was muscled away hurt her. Knuckles was supposed to be their friend and he had single-handedly ruined her life. Amy would bring this up with the Guardian the very next time their paths crossed and she wanted fuel for that future rage.

"He said that because he cares about you far more than I ever could and did." Sadness clearly dominating his voice, the blue hedgehog hung up on Amy.

Shell shocked, Amy allowed Tails' phone to fall from her hand.


	13. One Echidna, So Many Problems

Appreciating the silence that he was experiencing for the first time in almost two hours, Tails decided to take his time walking up to his front door. The flight back to Angel Island had been a difficult one to stomach. All Knuckles could seem to do was rave and rant about Sonic. Frankly, the fox was tired of hearing the echidna's crap. In fact, he couldn't even understand why Knuckles would have such a problem with Sonic. Sure, the Guardian lived alone on an island with an eternal duty but the absolute last person who would go and pity themselves was Knuckles.

An aggravated grunt left the fox's mouth as the echidna's ignorance weighed heavily upon his mind. Knuckles was probably the most important person on the planet. His job as guardian of the Master Emerald was of such importance that should he fail it could mean the end of the world. Meanwhile, Tails was just a lowly inventor who sometimes supported Sonic in stopping Eggman from doing something dastardly. On top of that, the stubborn echidna somehow managed to be more attractive than the fox at the same time. Despite the hours Tails wasted away at his appearance the damn echidna could just show up out of nowhere and almost instantly make Cream swoon. Hell, even Shadow respected Knuckles. So for such a privileged individual to be so troubled by one blue hedgehog was infuriating to Tails.

Before he could reach for the knob of his front door the fox was struck by a sudden memory; Amy and Cream were probably still inside. That thought stopped Tails cold in his tracks. How could he explain away the echidna's wrath? Only Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails knew about the whole situation. Surely there would be many questions, questions the fox didn't feel comfortable answering. Sonic, the hero, and Knuckles, the guardian, were the brave ones. Tails was only a side-kick; bravery wasn't his gimmick.

Upon listening carefully, Tails could definitely tell that nobody was talking inside. Instantly the fox deduced that Cream and Vanilla weren't there…he hoped. If they weren't then Tails would only have to deal with Amy, a task much simpler and less self-involved that dealing with Cream. However, if they were present, that meant that Cream had probably gone to sleep or something due to the obvious lack of talking.

With a huge gulp the young fox took a risk and walked slowly into his home.

At first it was quiet, almost as if nobody was home. The faint smell of food hung eerily in the air as the fox's blue eyes scanned the hall leading into the house. Though only a corner of the living room was visible from the front door, Tails quickly concluded that nobody was home.

"Man, what a bust. I throw a party for Cream and Knuckles has to go and scare everybody off. Figures…" The fox spoke through an inward sigh as he shut the door behind him. He honestly couldn't believe this. The damn echidna was so selfish that it hurt.

His eyes downcast to the floor, Tails shuffled sadly into his house. It was a rare occurrence that something would cast such sorrow over the fox. The last thing to do so was, ironically enough, Sonic leaving thanks to Knuckles.

"Tails…"

Startled by the sudden voice, the fox immediately put his back to the wall opposite of the living room and looked on in growing anxiety into the living room. Sitting stiffly in a chair next to a bunch of pictures was the almost zombie-like visage of Amy. Though his terror quickly subsided in favor of relief, the clumps of wet fur beneath Amy's bloodshot eyes caught the young fox's immediate attention. "Amy, is something wrong?"

Upon hearing his voice, Amy's eyes slowly drifted up to look at the fox. "…Tails…did you…know?" Her voice shook with subtle anticipation and worn out emotion.

"Know what?" Of course the genius spoke without thinking or even observing the room surrounding the weary form of his friend. Lying on the floor beside the quivering feet of the pink hedgehog was Tails' cell phone. His eyes shot wide with thought as he finally took notice of the picture clutched tightly in the hands of the girl before him. The blue of Sonic's fur was clearly visible through Amy's fingers, the color not a bit hindered by the glare on the glass of the picture frame.

A surge of understand spiraled through Tails' body as he quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together, "I'm sorry Amy…Sonic told me not to tell you…"

Sniffling, the pink hedgehog could hardly make a response, "Did he not think I could handle it?"

"That's not it Amy, he didn't want you to think that he needed Knuckles' help to figure it out…"

The picture Amy clung to cracked as her grip tightened in emotion. "Do you think…that he…Knuckles…was right about Sonic and me?" Pain flared throughout her tired mind as the words left her lips. To even speak the echidna's name was like a thousand daggers to the back.

Clearly seeing the distress she was in, Tails moved for the chair nearest to Amy. He could tell this would probably cause an issue. "Well…I'd hate to agree with him right now but…yes, I think he was right. What Sonic did to you was unforgivable. Nobody should have to sit there and admire the one they love most…knowing they don't even know you're there…" It took a minute for the fox to recover from the admission; he'd never told anyone beyond Sonic about his feelings regarding Cream.

Touched by the emotion in the young fox's words, Amy looked to the ground in sadness. "Tails…that's…"

"Don't say it Amy, I don't need to hear it. You, however, need to hear that Knuckles was wrong about some things though." Inspired to go on by the way the pink hedgehog's head snapped up at the mention of the echidna's name, Tails decided to hit as close to home as he could. "I know it was your choice to follow Sonic around, I know that you are well aware of Sonic's disposition towards the idea of relationships, and I know that Sonic's leaving didn't fix the problem. In fact, Sonic was never the one with the problem…"

Amy cocked her head curiously to the side in confusion as she processed the information, "If not Sonic…then…who…Knuckles?"

Nodding in confirmation, the fox decided to try and put this matter to rest for the night. "You know Sonic; he isn't the smartest guy in the world. And Sonic knows that. All you really have to do is play on his emotions with enough persistence and you can get him to believe anything, and nobody is as persistent as Knuckles. That's why I don't think Knuckles is entirely at fault here…all he did was care."

"But what does that even mean…Sonic said Knuckles cared too, but I don't even know what that word means anymore. I mean, he chased off one of my best friends before yelling at me for missing that friend. That doesn't even get close to fitting the definition of caring." At this the picture clutched between Amy's hands broke, the shards falling safely into her lap.

Reacting quickly, Tails moved to help the still quivering hedgehog clean the mess up. "Unfortunately, I have no clue. All I can say is that you know that he has his own special way of handling things, maybe this is how he shows he cares?" It didn't take the fox more than a few seconds to get most of the glass back onto the broken frame safely. He could get the rest in the morning when he was far more awake. "Now come on, you stay here tonight. I've got a guest room already made up just for emergencies."


	14. Mirrors are Good for SelfReflection

When Tails had said he had a guest room already made up, Amy hadn't expected to find such a finely prepared room. The bed was nicely made, the television was sitting ready to use with a remote placed carefully on a small table next to the bed, and the private bathroom was surprisingly well maintained for a room meant for emergencies. Though she didn't want to take anything away from the helpful fox, this room was clearly not an 'emergencies only' room. Tails had taken great care to make the room feel like it would be like a second home for someone, someone special. What further aided Amy's growing hypothesis was the fact that there were two guest rooms, neither of which being anywhere near Tails' room.

"Why am I so surprised? If I could get Sonic to come over to my apartment, then I would always have a room prepared just in case he felt the need to stay the night…" The pink hedgehog spoke through each brush stroke of her hair. Pity dominated her feelings, a good thing due to just how discombobulated her feelings were at the current moment. It was truly a painful thing for Amy to see the fox jump through hoops just to get Cream's attention. Whether that be by throwing a party for her while simultaneously cooking the food for the party, preparing two spare rooms just for her and Vanilla, or personally invite the person he knew she had a crush on. All of his efforts reminded Amy of all her failed attempts to similarly attract Sonic.

Amy's hair fell delicately as she caressed it lovingly with her hands and the brush. One thing that had always proven capable of maintaining her mental composure was brushing her hair. The almost monotonic motions involved in attending to her hair helped in allowing Amy to drift off into deep thought or, on one particularly embarrassing incident, fall asleep.

The thought of Sonic shattered whatever ignorance of the present she had festered that night. As if on perfect cue, the brush in Amy's hair missed a stroke entirely in an involuntary jerk of the arm. Perhaps the last thing the pink hedgehog wanted to think about was the mess Knuckles had created. Amy didn't even know if she should be mad at the echidna, he seemingly acted in good intentions. How could somebody demonize a friend who was only trying to help? Granted, nothing the knucklehead had actually helped anything at all. What friendship Amy and Sonic had probably permanently dissolved forever now thanks to the stupid echidna.

Rage bubbled deep within the pink hedgehog despite the fact that she didn't even know if it was appropriate. One of the few things supporting the theory that Knuckles actually meant well was something Shadow had said last year. "We, as sentient beings, only act if we, as sentient beings, care enough to act." Shadow had come up with that little gem in response to Rouge questioning if the black hedgehog truly appreciated the massive favor she had done for him by offering him a home. Of course it was just cryptic enough to fit perfectly into the black hedgehog's typical reservoir of melancholy sayings. Despite being out of context from its original meaning, Amy found it easy to apply the comment to her predicament with Knuckles. He never would have even wasted a breath if the echidna didn't care.

Sighing in confused agony, Amy placed the brush in front of the mirror facing her. The pink hedgehog was at a loss for action, she had no clue about what to do about the situation. Would it even register with the echidna if she confronted him about his meddling? Worse yet, what if the echidna had acted out of powerful malice towards Sonic rather than some hidden feelings towards Amy? That thought stirred a massive reaction from the girl. Her eyes darted to the mirror sitting before her, locking gazes with her reflection.

What if Tails and Knuckles were two of a kind? Tails clearly loved Cream despite the fact her heart belongs, unknowingly to him, to Knuckles. Meanwhile, Knuckles could very possibly hold some secret affection for Amy with little regard to the fact that she loved Sonic. A chilling thought. If that happened to be the case, then that meant that Tails loved Cream who loved Knuckles who loved Amy who loved Sonic…yikes. The pink hedgehog's eyebrow twitched with subdued humor at the complicatedness of it all. It was almost like they were all in some poorly written soap drama on daytime television.

The thin frame of the hedgehog in the mirror shivered as the thought ran onwards into her mind. She would have to be the one to intervene if there was really some illogically complicated love polygon going on between their small group. Tails was a coward; he would never truly stand up and say anything to Knuckles about backing off. Cream probably didn't even know she was involved in such a dilemma. Knuckles, well, he was the one who was causing all the problems to begin with. So it was up to Amy to try and break the chain. She'd have to talk to Knuckles, let him know how Cream felt, Tails felt, and most importantly, how she felt. On the negative side, this could all be a mistake. Cream was still a little young to fall head over heels for someone, something Amy personally knew to be a lie. Maybe Knuckles was just being an idiot and there were no hidden feelings. Hell, this could all be some elaborate plot by Eggman to break the group apart and everybody was falling for it.

Amy's eyes shot wide open as she noticed something in the mirror. It was hardly noticeable, she probably never would've noticed had she not gotten so close to the mirror. Hovering near the center of the reflective surface was what the pink hedgehog could swear was an orange mustache. Sighing in annoyance, Amy used her gloved hand to wipe away the smear on the mirror. Looking despondently at the dust now clinging to her glove, the pink hedgehog slumped lazily to the bed in her bare feet. She needed some sleep immediately. The last thing she needed was for her eyes to start seeing things.


	15. Slipping Back to the Start

Cold, desolate, darkness surrounded her, nothing for endless amounts of space. Her bare knees shivered as though frost was forming on them. She was all alone, nobody to help her. Her cries disappeared into the inky depths with no response.

In quivering arms she held a blue blanket that offered no warmth. She tried again and again to wrap herself in the garment for heat and safety only for it to continually fall off no matter how hard she tried to cling to it. For whatever reason, she needed this blanket to live, even though it rejected her at every turn and never embraced her.

Her voice had long since grown hoarse with the cries for help and she could only mutter curses from under her visible breath.

In a sudden burst of light and heat the blanket began to burn with a speed that aroused a great terror from within her. Fearing the flaming garment, she threw it as hard as she could into the darkness, silently regretting ever letting it go.

The flames encompassing the blanket were suddenly surrounding her in a ring of red fire that was neither too close nor too far. Heat given off by the dancing flames soothed her chilled body, melting the nonexistent frost that clung to her knees. A feeling of safety came over her as the red fire cracked in an infinite loop.

Fear arose within her as she reached out to be closer to flames. She desired the warmth it offered more than anything else at the current moment but the fear of being burnt stopped her arm from extending any further. Though it gave off great warmth, the flickering blaze intimidated her with dangerous tongues of crimson flame. She had never seen a fire that looked so dangerous before and thus had never felt such reluctance to get close to it. So, rather than risk being burnt, she curled into a ball and attempted to enjoy the minor amounts of warmth that reached her.

Shivering, Amy woke up to find herself wrapped in most of the comforter covering Tails' guest bed. She could scarcely remember the dream and found the act of trying to remember a hassle.

With all the speed of a snail, the pink hedgehog slipped out of bed to walk over to the window. She peered through the glass at the darkened houses calling the neighborhood home. If she had any money, she'd bet it all that no one else on the street was being plagued by nightmares.

Yawning in fatigue, Amy placed a hand upon the cold glass. The shiver the window sent thought her body felt relieving, almost as though she were in a shower. She wanted relief, relaxation, or even a minute of mental peace. She'd probably kill for it. "Why me? Why can't things just be normal?" Her words were mumbled through tired lips to the chilling glass of the window.


	16. Not Quite What You Would Expect

Amy stood in front of the mirror in Tails' guestroom admiring her appearance. Even though she had endured a hectic night and was wearing the same clothes as the previous day, her appearance was still above average. She was pleased with herself. Not all the credit was hers to be had, most of the credit for her appearance belonged to the shower connected to the guestroom. It was far nicer than the one back at her apartment and the hot water had been like magic for her complexion.

The plan for the day was that Amy wanted to convince Tails to fly her up the Angel Island to confront Knuckles after going home to change clothes. It was a simple plan; one that she was sure was easy to pull off. After all, she was sure that Tails wanted some closure here as well. The problem would be convincing Tails to take her all the way home and then all the way up into the clouds. However, Amy could easily bribe the fox with some pies and call it a day.

Not wanting to appear eager, Amy had decided to wait for Tails to be up and about the house before approaching him with the idea. It had been almost four hours that she had been awake and there hadn't been a sound in the house until just minutes ago. The sound in question was the front door to Tails' house opening and closing. Though the fact that the fox had managed to sneak around the house unheard and go out the front door was surprising, Amy wasn't going to let it get her off her game.

With her goal decided and her confidence well place, the pink hedgehog opened the door to the guestroom and strode casually into the living room, expecting to look out the window and see Tails toiling around in the front yard or something. What she hadn't been expecting, was to turn the corner into the living room and come face to face with Shadow the Hedgehog.

The black hedgehog sat in on the very couch Knuckles had occupied on the previous night. He sat with one leg draped patiently over the other while he rested his chin onto his fist in boredom. Fiery red eyes drilled directly into the pink hedgehog's soul as her presence became obvious to Shadow. "So, you failed to obtain the hero and bedded his side-kick? I must admit I never saw that one coming Rose." As usual, his tone was ripe with attitude and speculation.

Responding with a furiously defiant glare that utterly failed to match the black hedgehog's intensity, Amy attempted to stand up for herself. "Shut up Sh-Shadow! T-That's not how it is!" Her attempt valiant, although ultimately futile, the pink hedgehog managed to maintain an air of confidence despite her shaky voice.

"Relax girl, that's what you fools consider a joke, is it not?" Unflinchingly the black hedgehog blinked as though to taunt the girl that stood before him.

Anger creased Amy's brow as she absorbed the hedgehog's words. Shadow's little 'joke' was nothing similar to how anyone in the group joked about with each other. She wanted to let the brash individual know this, but the pink hedgehog was well aware of how Shadow may react to being talked back to. So, in favor of her personal health, Amy decided to just move past the issue. "Why are you here Shadow? Don't you have peasants to terrorize or something?"

"Peasants? That's a good one Rose. I'm pleased to see you still take pride in your creative brand of humor. However, my presence here is not of the jovial kind; I'm here on business. I've come to pick up a little something special that I ordered from the fox-boy." Calm and collected as always, Shadow turned his eyes back to the wall in front of him.

Surprise fell over Amy as the black hedgehog admitted to her that he was actually relying on Tails for something. Though she was quite sure that Shadow would rationalize it as using the poor boy to get what he wanted. "What could you possibly want that Tails has?"

A curious crimson eye suddenly turned to glare directly into the cautious jade eyes of the pink hedgehog. "My, my; aren't we being pleasant today? Those direct questions and what I describe as a displeased tone are unfitting of your typical composure. Does my being here irritate you so that you must be so eerily agitated towards me? Or is it something else of some significance?" After dodging the question like a pro, Shadow smirked evilly as he took notice of Amy's nervousness.

"Why do you care Shadow? It isn't like you to actually show interest in somebody else."

"The word care never left my lips. I do not care, nor could you ever trick me into conceiving any sort of value for you well being. However, I might as well inquire into the matter while I await your friend. So talk or get lost." The word talk was accompanied by the increasing intensity of his stare. Only then did it become evident to Amy that this was the black hedgehog's way of asking what was wrong.

Calming down considerably, Amy walked gingerly over to the chair across from Shadow before sitting carefully. She may have just been given permission to speak with him, but the pink hedgehog didn't want to accidentally piss him off rudeness. "Well…it's difficult to describe really… Tails held a party for Cream and Vanilla to welcome them back. In an attempt to please Cream, he invited Knuckles. However, Knuckles got mad when I mentioned the current situation I'm in at work-"

"Situation?"

"Yeah, my boss is a bit of a…"

"Pervert?"

"Well….yeah…"

"I suppose it's fitting that you got a boss with bad tastes. Go on."

Amy's eyes twitched slightly as she nervously giggled at the poor attempt at humor from the dark hedgehog. "Anyway…Knuckles got mad and started to rant about Sonic before leaving in a huff. Afterwards, I called Sonic and learned that it was Knuckles who forced him to run away. I've just been a bit…upset since…" Relaxation spread throughout Amy's body as she enjoyed the sensation of finally being able to talk about the problem with someone who didn't already know everything about it.

"Jealously most likely. I know the feeling. The blue buffoon has everything the echidna wants, so the echidna simply deprived the fool of any contact to you. This leaves you open to his advances, at least in his mind that is." An odd silence fell over the two of them as Shadow spoke his thoughts with the gruff tone that was easy to get used to.

Though he was probably right, Amy found it hard to truly conceive that Knuckles liked her that way. "You really think Knuckles did this because he loves me?"

"I didn't say love, but I'm certain that he has something of an interest in you for some reason. I suppose that he wouldn't know any better to aim any higher than you, but I can see how his options are limited. Count yourself lucky that he didn't just kill Sonic and take you away."

A nervous laugh found its way out of Amy's gut as she struggled to remain completely at ease with the information. "Thank you Shadow, this meant a lot to me."

"You better have my shades boy." Both of the black hedgehog's eyes turned their focus to the hall leading to the bedrooms where Tails came casually strolling out of holding a small box.

"Yeah, yeah Shadow. I've got them right," the fox's blue eyes suddenly caught sight of Amy sitting across from his latest customer. He hadn't been expecting her to be awake so early. Otherwise he would've warned her ahead of time about Shadow's appointment. "Amy…you're awake already?"

Finally glad to see somebody, the pink hedgehog smiled in greeting to the adorable young fox. "Of course I am. I was hoping to get a ride home from you so I can change out of this dress." Her words came out as nicely as possible so as to aid her in convincing the fox to do her the favor.

"Sure, I don't really have anything planned for today. So I guess I can give you a ride if you need one." Polite as always, Tails returned the sweet smile of the pink hedgehog.

An aggravated grunt then rose above the lighthearted giggling from Amy. "How much long will you make me wait before you give me what I came for boy?"


	17. Driving Miss Amy

"I'm so sorry Amy, I had totally forgotten about Shadow's appointment. I was hoping you would still be asleep when he got here. I know the last thing you needed right now was Shadow being a smartass." The fox carefully divided his attention between the road and Amy. It wasn't very often he got company while he drove and it was awkward to have another person in the car.

Sighing in anticipation of what she was focused on doing this day, Amy turned to look at the young fox. "It's ok Tails. He actually wasn't all that bad. What I'm interested in is why he bought sunglasses from you when he could easily buy some anywhere else."

The sorrow he had felt over allowing Amy to run into Shadow faded as the humorous story behind the black hedgehog's purchase came to mind. "Well, the sunglasses have a special modification in them that has them function as a camera, a clock, and have an infrared function on them. They're actually really nice, probably one of my finer successes." His voice swelled greatly with pride as he considered making the glasses for commercial use.

"A camera, a clock, and an infrared function…what did Shadow need that kind of gadget for?" As mysterious as the black hedgehog was, it was a well known fact that he preferred to do things using only his own power with the occasional exception of the Chaos Emeralds. Such an intricate thing didn't seem to fit Shadow.

"That's the funny part; he bought them for Rouge." The fox had to fight the urge to laugh as he spoke. Tails' struggle with his giggles confused Amy as the funny part had yet to be spoken of. Before she could question the humor of buying a gift for somebody, the fox continued on with his story. "I asked him why he didn't just get her some jewelry or something like that. After all, I think G.U.N. issues some kind of device like the one I made to its agents. His response was typical of Shadow; the bat can buy her own damn gems if she wants them, I merely want something cheap with which to pay the rent."

"Rouge makes him pay rent?"

Tails responded with a slight nod that betrayed his hidden laughter. At that moment Amy started to giggle at the thought. It was only a matter of time she figured, Shadow could be quite the hassle to tolerate. Eventually the continued strain of dealing with the rough personality of the black hedgehog required payment.

The occupants of the car calmed down steadily as the story faded into memory. This left Amy feeling awkward as the scenery passed by indicating their arrival to her part of town. It would be another five minutes or so before they'd be close to her apartment complex. So, desperate for something to break the silence, Amy unwisely chose to inquire about a matter that was something of importance to her. "Tails, am I pretty?"

A moment of silence proceeded until the fox processed what he had just heard, "Wh-What?" He hadn't been expecting to be put on the spot like that.

Blushing slightly from being nervous of Tails' response, Amy decided that it was too far to take it back. "I mean…I know you like Cream and everything, but am I not pretty?" There was really no cause for the question. Amy had been feeling insecure about her appearance since the day Sonic left.

"Uh…I…it's not really for me to say…but…I think you are…" Though hidden by his fur, a dark blush spread across the fox's cheeks at the admission. He really did think she was pretty. Cream was cute, Rouge was –to put it lightly– hot, and Vanilla was very regal in her appearance. Amy, on the other hand, was both nothing and a little like all three of them. She had cute cheeks and a cute haircut. Her figure was more than above average for Tails' tastes. Though her most positive physical attribute was the way she carried herself. The pink hedgehog always walked around with a great amount of dignity and seemed perfectly humble about her appearance.

Amy's blush intensified as she heard exactly what she wanted to hear. It was nice to know that someone found her attractive. However, it wasn't quite enough for her. "Do you think Knuckles finds me attractive?" The question absolutely surprised the pink hedgehog as she had not expected to mention anyone's name with her inquiry.

Once again Tails found himself on the spot and unsure of how he should answer. Had she just let it slip that she wanted a relationship with the echidna? Is it any of Tails' business? Well, the fox had something to say about her implied feelings and she had just asked his opinion of the matter. "Amy, I don't think you should go for Knuckles…it just wouldn't work out so well. I mean, you only found out last night that he was meddling around with your life…" Hesitation built up within the fox as he wanted to continue. The look on Amy's face wasn't helping matters. Her eyes bulged with what had to be surprise at his words and her cheeks were crimson with blush. Nervousness crept in as the fox thought that perhaps he had made a mistake in voicing his opinion.

"It isn't like that Tails… I just want to know how he feels about me. More importantly, I need to know from him why he forced Sonic to run away." As she spoke, Tails pulled into an empty spot in front of Amy's apartment complex. This provided her with the opportunity to make a quick escape from the conversation. "Furthermore, I still love Sonic…I always will. Now I'll only be a minute or two. So please be patient." She spoke as the door slammed shut behind her.

Befuddled at her reaction, Tails shook his head in disbelief as she walked away. "Teenagers…so dramatic about everything. I swear if I become like that then I'll willingly surrender to Eggman and let him turn me into a robot or something."


	18. Insert Title

Amy stood in her room wearing nothing but her bra and panties looking dismally at the wardrobe before her. The challenge that she now found herself facing was picking out something to wear that would appropriately suit the situation. She didn't want to send mixed signals by showing up looking like a model, but she didn't want Knuckles to think that she didn't care enough to look nice.

One of the options that she favored most were a simple blue sweater and pink jeans, but Amy was afraid it would make her look too homely to properly illicit a peaceful response out of the violence prone echidna. Another good choice would be to wear her regular pink dress with some sort of dark blue jacket. That's when the light bulb went off in her head; wear the jeans and sweater but with the jacket that would've gone with the dress. Eagerly the pink hedgehog pulled on the ensemble, taking care not to mess her hair up, and admired her appearance in the mirror.

"Fashionable, but casual…I love it!" Elated that her wardrobe produced such a combo, Amy quickly pulled her boots on before trotting out of her apartment.

Cold wind blue against her face as nightfall approached without halt. It became instantly apparent to the girl that she should not have wasted so much time on simple clothes. The ride to her apartment was bad enough with traffic and now she was in danger of being up on Angel Island at night. Reluctance began to weigh the pink hedgehog's shoulders down as the temperature dropped faster than she could count. Angel Island was far into the sky and it would probably be about ten times worse up near the altar of the Master Emerald. All Amy wanted to do was get back in the car with Tails and head back to his place. Maybe they could have Vanilla bring Cream back over and they could try to mend some of the damage caused by the echidna. Hesitant eyes glanced high into the clouds. Slightly visible in the darkening sky was the feint green tinge of the Master Emerald high atop the floating paradise of Angel Island. Almost instantly her mind was made up for her; she had to see this through to the end. Otherwise Amy was risking Knuckles' friendship and possibly his friendship with everybody else.

Speedily, the pink hedgehog raced down to the parking lot to where she had left Tails. Without missing a beat the girl hopped into the passenger seat. Fierce emerald eyes turned to face the questioning gaze a definitely curious fox, "Alright Tails, let's hurry before it gets too dark for me to even navigate on that island."

The engine roared to life as the fox obeyed her order. "You do know how to get to the altar, right? I don't want you getting up there just to get lost." For the many times that Tails had been to the island, Amy had never once even set foot there. To be honest, even Sonic and the fox-boy had gotten lost in the dense thicket of the sacred isle at one point. Luckily, Eggman had made sure to leave a somewhat trustworthy path to the altar. From there you just had to follow the light of the Master Emerald.

Her cheeks twitched nervously as Amy tried to recount all the times she had heard the story of how to get to the Master Emerald from Sonic, Tails, and Rouge. She was certain it had something to do with a path of some sort. To be honest, Amy had never cared enough to inquire about the island. "It has something to do with some sort of path…right?" To help cover up the embarrassing moment Amy began to laugh.

Tails, however, turned a serious eye to the pink hedgehog and sighed inwardly. "Amy, this isn't a joke. You can really get lost up there. The only person who would even know their way around the forest is Knuckles and I doubt he'd even know you were there for at least a few days. How about I just escort you to the altar? That way I can make sure you get there safely." Though sincere, the fox could tell immediately that his suggestion was unwanted.

"Tails…this is something I have to do myself. I know you want to help and I thank you for that, but this needs to be between Knuckles and me. So can you please just tell me how to get there? I promise I won't get lost." Her jade eyes spoke volumes about how she felt. Of course she was aware of the danger; Amy had always been good about perceiving the negative reactions to her actions. The downside to that was that Amy often went ahead and acted despite these negative reactions. However, the pink hedgehog knew well that she had to take responsibility for this. If there was one thing that Sonic had taught her in the many years they played cat and mouse, it was that you had to take responsibility for your actions.

A hint of realization dawned within Amy as Tails readied himself to give directions. Sonic was well respected for taking responsibility for his actions. It was a trait that further proved him heroic. However, Amy was beginning to think that this whole problem was caused by Knuckles seeing Sonic not take responsibility for his inaction in regards to the blue blur's biggest fan. Once again she was reminded of how Sonic told her that the echidna acted because he cared so much. Slowly the memory of Knuckles' rant came to mind. Everything had been going well that night until the mention of how bad work was for her. The very second she tried to justify the horrible conditions the echidna stood up and sounded off. It became clear to Amy that this matter needed to be handed delicately. Every action Knuckles had taken was seemingly one meant to have positive effects. He was, in effect, trying to guard her in a way not dissimilar to his protecting of the Master Emerald.

"Alright…I think I can make this easy…I hope…" Tails' words broke Amy from her thoughts and the silence that followed only served to make things a bit awkward. "When we get there, you'll see a few broken pillars and a patch of land where trees used to be. In the top left corner of the little clearing is a dirt path. You can tell it apart by the lack of plants on the trail. Just follow that and you'll get there fine enough…"


	19. Marco Meets Polo

This was freaking ridiculous! How in the world could such a small island harbor so many damn plants? Absurd was another word Amy wanted to use, perhaps even unbelievable was fitting. She was expecting something of a thick forest, but she certainly hadn't thought that it would as dense as it was. There were at least fifteen or twenty trees visible in absolutely every direction she looked. Only a few minutes had passed since she had found the path in the clearing and the grassy spot was already perfectly hidden by the thicket of trees. In fact, the number of trees was beginning to disorientate the pink hedgehog. They all looked exactly alike. The absolute only thing allowing her to know that she wasn't lost was the dirt path that snaked along the ground.

Every thought that Amy had ever had regarding the appearance of Angel Island was being completely broken by every sight she could see. The trees, along with being far more numerous, were monstrously huge. Trees on the ground weren't this big by a long shot, though that's not taking into account trees of other regions. Just as bewildering was the size of the leaves. If you were to cook a full meal for two people then you could probably both use the leaf as a dinner table. All this just meant that the bugs had to be massive; a thought Amy could've lived her entire life without having.

Poking out from the blanket of foliage were the eye-catching remnants of Eggman's robots. Not even the oncoming night could mask the metal from sight, what little light existed under the trees shone off the shiny surfaces. As Amy understood it, the fat genius had waged an unholy assault on Angel Island. Sonic in particular loved this story. He characterized Eggman's plot on the island as being one of the more dramatic. Tails personally considered the encounter on the sacred isle as being the one where Eggman lost his mind. Amy agreed with that idea. She personally wouldn't blame anyone for going crazy after what Sonic did to the ludicrously named Death Egg. Millions of dollars flushed directly down the drain by a single hedgehog and for him to end up stranded on Angel Island afterwards must've been heartbreaking for the doctor.

All the hate in the fat gut of Eggman was supposedly unleashed onto Sonic and Tails once they arrived on the island. He was, according to Sonic, livid beyond belief. There wasn't a page in his book of robots that wasn't thrown at the heroes. Not even another Sonic robot could stop the duo.

A shiver ran up Amy's back as she continued on down the path. She hated the doppelgangers Eggman created. They scared her more than any other of his creations and she had only met one of them. To think that at least two other Sonic robots existed at any point of time made Amy nervous that she might run into the rusting remains of one.

"Ow!" Pain surged through the pink hedgehog's foot as she kicked something really hard. Scared and hurt, Amy bent down to pick up whatever it was getting in her way only to be met with the sight of leaves and grass. She had stumbled off the path Tails had told her about. "Oh no," frightened jade eyes scanned her surroundings quickly to locate the trail only to reveal that it was nowhere to be seen. "Oh God no…" Fear gripped the girl as she began to theorize just how long it would take her to die before Knuckles would go looking.

Determined not to end up as worm food, Amy tried to get a running start so as to find the altar of the Master Emerald. Yet again the pink hedgehog's foot struck the metal object on the ground, this time it forced her to fall to the ground with a hard thunk. Irritated and anxious, Amy got onto her knees to get up and found herself face to face with the lifeless eyes of a badnik buried into the ground. Everything about the second she spent staring into the cold steel of the robot spelt terror. So, reacting appropriately, Amy screamed as loud as she could.

Not even a second passed before the pink hedgehog was up and moving as fast she could through the scraping branches of the thick trees. Her scream disappeared into the night sky as her jacket and jeans were attacked viciously by the wilderness. Of course it didn't register to Amy that she was ruining her clothes by trying to flee from a deactivated robot; she was too busy being terrified.

Another scream worked its way out of the poor girl's throat as she was forced to close her eyes due to the onslaught of branches smacking her. Despite the pain she was feeling from the multitude of scratches and scrapes, Amy pressed onward and actually increased her speed to as much as she could muster without falling over.

Suddenly Amy's body slammed into a hard surface that threw her to the ground with a hard impact. Tears streamed from her eyes as she began to consider that she would never see anyone ever again. Night was already in full swing and she didn't know whether or not any animals inhabited Angel Island. Trying to move would only get her further lost which forced Amy to decide to make camp under the thing that she had so blindly run into. That was another problem; her fear was making her do stupid things. Tonight it was running at breakneck speeds through a forest with her eyes closed, tomorrow it could be eating a berry that was poisonous or something.

Dreading the night she was now facing alone, Amy opened her eyes as the cold wind whipped through the trees and leaves. On the ground the pink hedgehog swore she could make out the color of the dead leaves by some dull green light. A bell rang in the frightened girl's head as she observed the ground under the eerie green light. Excited that she was somewhere near the Master Emerald, Amy looked up to see if she could actually see the magnificent gem. Instead, the pink hedgehog's gaze was met with the fierce violet glare of the object she had run into.


	20. Hopeless Romantics Need Not Apply

Embarrassment sank in as Amy looked up into Knuckles' eyes. Of all the situations she envisioned occurring tonight, this was the one she least expected. Her heart beat was still flying far too fast to allow her to actually address the echidna properly. She couldn't even tell him that she could walk just fine.

Cold wind blew over the pink hedgehog's body as Knuckles carried her steadily up the steps of the altar. She wanted to cling to his massive chest for warmth but Amy dearly feared what kind of signals that would send. This needed to be handled delicately and things were already getting awkward. Shivers raged through the girl's body as the icy breeze struck her like a thousand knives. The branches had left many holes in Amy's jeans exposing the thin layer of fur beneath. Luckily, her jacket was largely intact and was doing a moderately nice job at keeping her upper body warm.

The crimson of the echidna's fur shone with a green tinge as he approached the giant Master Emerald. Yet another shiver ran through Amy's body as she saw the beautiful gem from the corner of her eye. She had seen all of the Chaos Emeralds, even all of them together, and still she felt absolutely insignificant compared to the power emanating from the Master Emerald. The feeling of weakness actually managed to overcome the fear from her collision with Knuckles and ushered her into words, "Wow…I keep forgetting how large that emerald is…"

Largely unaffected by her comment, Knuckles simply continued his trek to the top of the altar. His brow furrowed slightly with each gust of wind. Amy's appearance on the island was unexpected and it only served to irritate him more that Tails had allowed her to go through the forest alone. "What are you doing on my island?"

Amy's eyes turned back up to stare at the guardian innocently. She could see the crumpled up brow and clenched teeth, this echidna was angry and that only made her job far more difficult. However, angry or not, the pink hedgehog was determined to settle this mess. "I can walk…" Her thoughts exploded with insult as she hated every syllable of the exclamation.

Reacting calmly, Knuckles harshly dropped Amy onto the stone of the altar and closed the distance to the glowing Master Emerald. "Answer me; why the hell are you on my island?" He was in no mood for the stupidity of irrelevant words and jokes.

Slowly the hedgehog sat up onto her sore bottom while rubbing her head lovingly. The drop had caused her to bump her head against the stone of the altar and it was throbbing painfully. "Well…I came to talk to you…"

Standing with his arms crossed and scowl readied, Knuckles stared her down with the Master Emerald silhouetting his stocky frame perfectly. "About?" He hadn't meant to hurt her or anything but she had risked her life stupidly by entering the sacred forest at night.

"Like it isn't obvious…" Amy allowed the sarcasm to sink in as she stood up shakily. Her legs ached and groaned from her running earlier and the act of rising up was far more strenuous than she would've thought. "Last night Knuckles, I'm here to talk about what happened at Tails' house."

As if he had expected it, Knuckles lowered his head slightly as if to put up some front of intimidation. "I meant every word I said last night Amy. You need to know absolutely every word I said was the truth." Venom leaked from his words as the echidna stood strong in front of the Master Emerald.

A shiver ran up Amy's back from a combination of the cold wind and the feeling of having Knuckles growl her name at her. Nonetheless, the pink hedgehog kept her composure. "First off, you were lying when you said Sonic left because he was afraid. A coward as I recall you labeling him." Knuckles' actually blinked at the revelation and seemed almost rattled at her knowledge of his lie. His lips parted as though he was ready to offer a rebuttal, but Amy wasn't done just yet. "Secondly, what I need to know is why you forced Sonic to leave? And I mean that I want to know the exact reason, not some half-assed excuse."

For the first time in her life Amy saw the stubborn echidna's shoulders slump as though his confidence had been dealt a swift blow. She honestly felt bad when she noticed the guardian's eyelids close partially, a telltale sign of remorse. Before the echidna could speak a gust of wind introduced itself into the air, forcing Amy to quiver once more from the cold. "Come stand next to the Master Emerald. It'll keep you warm…" Surprisingly Knuckles stepped away from his precious gem. To say she was shocked would be an understatement.

Slowly the hedgehog approached the massive jewel and immediately noticed a warm pulsating feeling moving through her body. She had never known that any of the emeralds gave off heat and silently checked the mystery of how Knuckles braved winters off her mental checklist of oddities. "Thank you…but I need an answer Knuckles. Sonic's leaving hurt me a lot and you owe me an explanation."

Now with his back to the darkened panoramic view of the islands forest, Knuckles looked to the nervous figure of the pink hedgehog and sighed. Amy could swear she saw his tail dangling guiltily between his legs. "Yes…I told him to leave, but I didn't do it to hurt you. All I wanted was to save you from further emotional abuse at his hands." Dejectedly the echidna turned his eyes to the forest and sighed inwardly before, mumbling as he did so, "I never thought you'd find out I had a hand in it…"

The gesture of his honest guilt struck Amy heavily as her body warmed up from the heat the Master Emerald was giving off. However heroic his intentions, the echidna had made a mistake and she had suffered the consequences of it. "Sonic has never hurt me, intentionally or otherwise. Yes, he never forced me to leave him alone, but I was aware all along that my chances were slim. Those were odds I was comfortable with. I really do appreciate that you wanted to help me though."

"It doesn't make it right that you knew it the whole time. Sonic never took the precaution of warning you upfront that he had no plans of settling down in his future. He should've at least said something to you. I just…couldn't stand by and watch him lead you around." Knuckles turned his gaze back to Amy's and she saw the softness in his eyes. She had never seen him like this and it was seriously derailing her attempts to stay mad at him.

"Well…everything is fine now. All you need to do is apologize to Sonic so we can all make this right again." Feeling at ease, Amy looked out to where she had come from and saw the small dot that was Tails' plane in the far distance. She was ready to leave and have life get back to normal.

A growl interrupted the pink hedgehog's thoughts and she barely had time to turn and look to Knuckles for a response before the echidna stood blocking the stairs. "I'm not through here Amy. I care about you, a lot more than that blue idiot does. He would never sit around long enough to learn of your job or how your boss is a pervert. I won't let you leave and go back to that hell you called a life."

Amy shrunk back against the Master Emerald as she felt the intensity of the guardian's glare piercing straight through her. However scared she was, the pink hedgehog had to stand up here. It wasn't Knuckles' job to guard her after all. "That's not your call to make Knuckles. That life I have, as hellish as it may be, is the life I have. It's the one I chose to live."

"I don't care if I have a say in it or not, you WILL hear me out." With an aggravated stomp the echidna returned to his previous intimidating posture. Only this time it was having the desired effect. "If you leave my island then you had better be heading to either Tails' house or Cream's place. Cause if you return to that café, I'll come down there and feed that boss of yours my fist."

Not surprised by the threat, Amy straightened her posture to best match up to her echidna foe. He did, however, have a point. So, looking for the best route to end this situation, the pink hedgehog decided to just let the echidna have what he wanted. "You know what? Fine, I won't go back to my job. I expect you to be the one retrieving my stuff from my apartment though. I'm sure you can handle it by yourself, considering how strong you are." In a huff the pink hedgehog charged passed the dumbstruck echidna and began to make her way down the stairs. "Oh, and one more thing, Cream has a huge crush on you and if you expect me to follow your 'orders' then you had better not lead her on. Otherwise I'll make you leave unexpectedly!"


	21. The Long Awaited Trip Home

"So, how'd it go?"

"About as well as you might think it would go with him."

"He didn't get mad, did he?"

"Well, he was at first, but he simmered down when I talked him down."

"Wait, YOU talked him down?"

"Why, is that so hard to believe?"

"N-No! All I m-meant was-"

"Yes?"

Silence was all that met her ears.

Grinning in satisfaction, the pink hedgehog put her arms behind her head and relaxed as the fox piloted them down to the ground. As nice as she was used to being, sometimes it just felt good to be a little bit of jerk. Normally Amy would chastise herself for it, but she felt that she had more than deserved it with how she had handled Knuckles.

At first she had been really nervous about whether or not the stubborn guardian would be willing to have a visitor, but she had been pleasantly surprised that he hadn't actually killed her after she said what she felt needed saying.

The aircraft jostled slightly as the pink hedgehog enjoyed the silence afforded her by her comments.

Clouds soared by as the aircraft continued its descent. Against the night sky Amy could almost see the scenery belonging in some beautiful painting. She would've gladly even imagine painting that portrait herself, but the dark blue she thought she saw ringing the moon brought other thoughts to mind.

"Hey Tails, mind if I ask you a question?"

A pained silence followed her question; even the sound of the fox's breathing seemed slightly muted.

'_Geez, could he be any more sensitive?'_ Sighing in restrained exasperation at his unwelcome silence, Amy decided to stay true to her personality by breaking the silence, "Tails, don't be that way. It was a joke. Honest. I'm not actually angry at you. So come on, I really have something important I want to ask you."

There was only silence, Amy's breath becoming quiet, just like the now completely silenced pilot.

Frustrated with being ignored, a lifelong ailment of hers, Amy reached out to touch the fox's arm, "Tails, this isn't funny. It was a-" only to find that his arm was no longer there.

Suddenly aware of the ice cold whip of the wind against her back, the pink hedgehog stumbled forward into the black void in front of her.

Startled, Amy quickly regained her footing and spun to find her friend who had only moments ago been directly in front of her; finding only a darkness that surrounded her entirely.

"T-Tails?"

Her quivering hope was met with a rush of cold wind that cut straight through to her bones.

Becoming aware of the strange familiarity with the terrifying void, Amy found herself incapable of muttering fearfully and settled with thinking her prayers. _'It's a dream, girl. Nothing to be afraid of. It's just like the one with Sonic. You'll wake up any minute now and-' _ Her thoughts stopped as an alien presence became known to her through the inky blackness.

An alien presence marked by what she could hardly make out as being an unidentifiable person standing merely ten feet away from her, looking at the ground.

Completely forgetting her attempt to reassure herself, the increasingly terrified hedgehog spoke in what she was well aware what a false hope that she'd find comfort, "H-Hello?"

The figure muttered something lowly, surprising Amy as she had been expecting total silence.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you…"

It came again, this time as a low grumble that seemed to carry an animalistic tone.

Oblivious to the possible terrors she was welcoming upon herself; the hedgehog began to run full speed towards this figure, a possible relief from her continued nightmare.

She continued to run as hard as she could for as long as she could before she had to stop, at which point the pink hedgehog realized that she had never moved at all despite the ache in her side.

"P-Please! S-Speak louder! Who are you?"

Slowly, the figure began to look upwards, turning its unseen gaze to the where the sky had been. Only then did Amy see that it was a hedgehog she was seeing.

Her hopes skyrocketed as the realization hit her that she was seeing a hedgehog, which lead to her typical deduction, "SONIC!" Her waves became more frantic as her pulse increased. "S-Sonic, it's me, Amy!"

Without warning a loud thud began to pound out from all corners of the darkened world.

_THUD_

"Sonic, can you hear me?"

_THUD_

"Please, Sonic, say something, anything!"

_THUD_

"Sonic!"

_THUD_

"P-Please…"

_THUD_

Her pulse racing, the figure suddenly faded away before a loud cry came quietly and quickly rising into a shrill screech, _"YOU'RE LOST WITHOUT ME!"_

With a startled yelp Amy sat up in bed, covers soaking wet.

Her breath rasped shakily as she cried tiredly into her palms.

'_A dream, that's all it was. Just a terrifying…scary nightmare…just another bad dream.'_


End file.
